Nuclear Energy Agency Online Bulletin

October 2002

Radiation protection news


The Programme Committee for the second NEA-ICRP Forum met to define the themes, objectives and format of the forum. The forum's title "The Future Policy for Radiological Protection: Enhancing Stakeholder Dialogue" reflects its focus on providing stakeholder feedback to the ICRP on its latest draft general recommendations and its draft recommendations on the radiological protection of non-human species.

The Expert Group on the Implications of ICRP Recommendations (EGIR) met for the first time and undertook a very useful discussion of the draft ICRP document, "Radiological Protection of Non-Human Species from Ionising Radiation". The group is currently developing a set of comments and identifying issues that the document raises. These will be finalised in January 2003 and sent to the Committee on Radiation Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) for review and comment in preparation before their presentation at the NEA-ICRP Forum in April 2003.

The Expert Group on the Evolution of the System of Radiological Protection (EGRP) held its final meeting. With the publication of its report, "The Way Forward in Radiological Protection", the mandate of the Group was completed; except for the publication of the "Road Tests" that are being prepared by outside consultants to ascertain whether the group's ideas will likely lead to an improvement in the system of radiological protection. The group provided its last guidance to the consultants, and their reports will be finalised by early 2003 for approval by the CRPPH and presentation at the 2nd NEA-ICRP Forum in April 2003.

The Expert Group on Processes of Stakeholder Involvement (EGPSI) has made significant progress in the planning and preparation of the Third Villigen Workshop. This workshop will take place in September or October 2003. The group agreed that the main themes of the workshop should be lessons from the stakeholder involvement process that can transcend national borders, and any policy-level implications that these might have. Three case studies, drawing on lessons from specific situations, were also discussed and will be finalised in early 2003.

The CRPPH Bureau also met to discuss the status of the programme of work (POW). These discussions were based on the POW given in the Committee's Annual Report, which is available online. The Bureau also discussed possible new areas of work.

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