ICRP Main Commission Meeting

1981 November 30 – December 9, Eastbourne, UK

The Chairman confirmed the appointment of Prof. S. Takahashi as an Emeritus Member.

The Commission requested that draft reports be sent to the Commission 2 months before a Commission meeting and not a few days in advance.

The Commission received work updates from Committees 1-4 regarding progress on reports. The following decisions were reached by the Commission.

C1 – The Commission did not make any decisions related to C1 work but some important findings were presented. C1 found that: mental retardation may be an important effect of irradiation and that the results of the effects of low radiation doses are consistent with previous information and therefore change to the Commission’s risk estimates is not necessary.
C2 – The Chairman thanked C2 for completion of ICRP-30. The Commission requested of C2 a qualifying statement regarding effective dose equivalent in TG on Dose to patients from radiopharmaceuticals. Finally the commission decided it should issue a statement on the topic of ALI for members of the public related to ALIs for each radionuclide.
C3 – The Commission agreed to the Committee’s proposal to establish new TGs for the following topics: Revision of ICRP-17 and Protection of the patient in radiotherapy,
C4 – The Commission agreed to the proposal by C4 to establish TG for Protection of the public in the event of radiation accidents. The Commission reviewed other documents related to the revision of ICRP Publications (7, 10, 10A, 12, 13) and requested that the authors make the required edits and send to the Commission for approval by mail ballot. Extensive discussion was held regarding optimisation of radiation protection with respect to the need to extensively edit the document and the need for a general statement to begin the report. The document will have final approval by mail ballot.

The ISR did not approve of the ICRP change in membership according to ICRP rules. The Commission decided to change ICRP rules to be consistent with new ISR rules in order to maintain good relations.

The Commission decided to decline an offer from the IAEA to cosponsor the ICRP report on Optimisation of radiation protection.

The Commission decided to invite Dr. R.E Cunningham to become a member of Committee 4.

The Commission agreed that the proposal to create an outline for TG on Index of Harm would be useful.

The Commission decided to establish a TG on Exposure of the Public from Radon and briefly discussed Lifetime Dose for Radiation Workers, a discussion to be continued at the next meeting.