First International Conference on Occupational Radiation Protection - Findings and Recommendations - Note of the Secretariat

Record of proceedings | 06 September 2002
The overall message to come from the opening presentations was that, in general terms, occupational radiation protection over the past few decades has been a success story for the international radiation protection community. Global information from UNSCEAR and the ISOE, supported by many detailed national studies, has revealed solid downward trends in many key performance indicators, primary among which are the annual average dose and the annual collective dose, but also indicators such as the number of workers exposed to high doses and the number of accidents and overexposures. It is worth noting, however, that most of these data relate to the nuclear fuel cycle; the picture is not so clear or encouraging for exposures in medicine and industry, nor for exposures to natural sources, especially in the mining of ores other than uranium. This is important, as these are the principal types of exposure globally.