ICRP Main Commission Meeting

1977 November 1 – 3 London, UK

The Main purpose of this meeting was to discuss ICRP-26 and to establish the structure of the ICRP’s Commission and its Committees.

Comments on ICRP-26 – The Commission addressed comments regarding this report and made the following decisions:

With respect to stochastic effects of ionising radiation, the Commission recommended weighting factors for application to the dose equivalent in organs. Tissues described as “remainder” should be excluded of computation of whole body dose equivalent but must be retained among organs and tissues to which Paragraph 103 applies.

The Commission assigned the Scientific Secretary to establish a standard reply as a working paper for comments regarding ICRP-26 and to organise a teach-in for new members of the Commission.

The Commission decided to drop the blue/brown cover system of the Annals of the ICRP.

A discussion was held regarding the need for closer relationship to exist between ICRP/ICRU. It was agreed that the officers of the Commissions should meet more often and a larger joint task group should be created.

The structure of ICRP and its Committees were established as follows:

C1 – Radiation Effects
C2 – On Secondary Limits
C3 – On Protection in Medicine
C4 – On the Application of the Commission’s Recommendations

The Commission communicated to Committee chairmen some of the most important tasks they should consider within the next few years:

C1 – Reassessment of risks (cancer, genetic defects, etc) from radiation dose
C2 – Completion of main report as soon as possible to be submitted to IAEA for inclusion in report on Basic Recommendations
C3 – Consider reviews of ICRP-16/17/26.
C4 – Review non-medical material in ICRP-15, and continue review of ICRP-17/12/24/26

Emphasis was placed on the Commissions managing an appropriate workload and finishing reports in an efficient manner in order to maintain the ICRP’s relevance in the field of radiation protection.