91997E1033

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1033/97 by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Council (24 March 1997)

Subject: Risk to the health of the public and employees as a result of underestimating neutron radiation during transport of highly radioactive waste

A group of scientists submitted to a sister organization of the ICRP, the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU), even more far-reaching recommendations on quality factors. Because of the many indications in radiation biology experiments that the relative biological impact of neutrons, especially in low doses, is still much higher than originally assumed, these scientists proposed a quality factor of 25 irrespective of the energy of the neutrons (ICRU 40 1986).

1. What is the Council's position vis-à-vis the guidelines proposed in ICRU 40 1986?

2. What conclusions has it drawn as regards radiation protection in the EU Member States?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1029/97, E-1031/97 and E-1033/97 (2 July 1997)

On 13 May 1996 the Council adopted Directive 96/29/Euratom laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation ((OJ L 159, 29.6.1996, p. 1. )). Adoption of that Directive has enabled protection standards in the previous Directives to be strengthened, in the light of, in particular, recent scientific data.

With particular reference to the assessment of the effects of various types and energies of ionizing radiation, Articles 15 and 16 of the Directive provide for the use of the radiation weighting factor values annexed to the Directive, which are those recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in its publication No 60, to which the Honourable member refers. Article 15 also stipulates that the competent authorities may authorize the use of equivalent methods. This possibility is of particular value where a knowledge of the actual parameteres of the situation enables the dose to be estimated more precisely.