Risk Estimates for Radiation Protection-24E91683

Report No. 115 provides a comprehensive evaluation of the available sources of information on the risks attributable to exposure to ionizing radiation. The Report focuses primarily on utilization of well-developed risk estimate formulations to provide the basis for exposure limits. Particular attention is paid to the risk estimates produced by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) and the Committee on Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) in 1988 and 1990, respectively. The Report builds on these formulations to provide the necessary definitive judgements required to establish an adequate basis for estimates of risk at the low doses relevant to radiation protection. Report No. 115 examines the similarities and differences of the UNSCEAR and BEIR formulations; the methods of analysis, including dose-response relationships, risk-projection models, and derivations of risk at low dose and dose rate from data obtained at high doses and dose rate; and other sources of data of value to the formulation of basic radiation protection criteria.