Society News Archive

Web Operations will be presenting a new series of special publications on the Health Physics Society (HPS) website in an effort to explain radiation and its effects on man and the environment. The first of this series is Radiation and Risk: Expert Perspectives.

Concern over radiation exposure following the March 2010 tsunami and resulting destruction to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility compelled a group of radiation scientists to explain radiation risks to the general public. Some of these experts were convened in a panel sponsored by the (HPS) at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on 1 March 2012 in order to better inform the conversation around the one-year anniversary of Fukushima.

Now, two years after the accident, HPS Web Operations has published Radiation and Risk: Expert Perspectives on this website, a compilation of papers on topics including natural radiation, medical applications of radiation, effects of natural and man-made radiation on the environment, safety controls of nuclear energy production, risk communication, and the regulatory implications of radiation safety. The HPS editorial staff hopes that these papers provide a meaningful and understandable explanation of ionizing radiation and related risk to human health and well-being.