Society News Archive

In 2010, the International Commission on Radiological Protection changed its recommendations for how to calculate effective dose from radon. The new approach uses reference biokinetic and dosimetric models, rather than epidemiological data. A recent article by J.W. Marsh, D. Laurier, and M. Tirmache in Radiation Protection Dosimetry explains and compares both approaches.

Marsh and colleagues apply the dosimetric approach, using it to calculate indoor and mine workers' doses from radon and radon progeny. They compare their results to those obtained using the epidemiological approach, noting that "the good consistency between the two approaches is remarkable but it does not indicate accuracy or precision in the estimates as there are uncertainties associated with both approaches."