The New ICRP Recommendations on Radiological Protection in Geological Disposal of Long-Lived Solid Radioactive Waste

LOCHARD, J., SCHNEIDER,T.

Oral presentation at the 2nd International Symposium on ‘The Safety Case for Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste: 2013 State-of-the-Art’, OECD/NEA, Paris, 8 October 2013

The management of radioactive waste has been the subject of several recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) since 1985. The aim of the new Publication 122 (2013) is to describe how the 2007 general recommendations of th Commission (Publication 103) can be applied in the context of geological disposal. For this purpose, it is important to remind that the new approach developed by ICRP is based on three types of exposure situations: planned, emergency and existing.

  • Planned exposure situations correspond to situations where exposures result from the operation of deliberately introduced sources. Exposures can be planned and fully controlled.
  • Emergency exposure situations correspond to situations where exposures result from the loss of control of a source within a planned exposure, or from an unexpected situation (e.g. malovelent event). These situations require urgent actions to prevent or mitigate exposures.
  • Existing exposure situations correspond to situations where exposures result from sources that already exist when decisions are taken to control them. The characterization of exposure is therefore a prerequisite for their control.

Read more: The New ICRP Recommendations on Radiological Protection in Geological Disposal of Long-Lived Solid...