Society News Archive
National council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Report No. 175, Decision Making for Late-Phase Recovery From Major Nuclear or Radiological Incidents, provides guidance on making decisions after a major nuclear accident (e.g., Fukushima) or after an act of terrorism involving a radiological dispersal device (e.g., a dirty bomb) or an improvised nuclear device resulting in wide-area contamination with radioactive materials.
The report considers the long-term consequences of widespread contamination and provides guidance on managing the cleanup and community restoration efforts. Health, environment, economic, psychological, cultural, ethical, and political issues are addressed. Optimization is described as the best approach to decision making for balancing the complex issues that follow wide-area contamination with radioactive materials. Optimization is an iterative process that can be broken down into a series of steps, all of which involve cooperation with stakeholders as an essential element for a community-focused recovery effort.
Health Physics Society members receive a 20% discount on all NCRP reports. An additional 10% discount is given if the order is for both electronic and hard-copy formats of any report.
Health Physics Society member S.Y. Chen was the chair of the NCRP committee that produced this report. He authors an article in the April Health Physics News about the preparation of the report.