2013 Volume 48 Issue 2 Pages 86-96
The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has classified radiation cataract as tissue reactions (formerly known as deterministic effects or non-stochastic effects) for which a threshold dose exists, and recommended an equivalent dose limit for the lens of the eye to prevent vision-impairing cataracts. A recommended occupational dose limit has been 150 mSv/year predicated on the threshold of >8 Sv since the 1980 Brighton Statement, but was drastically lowered by the 2011 Seoul Statement to 20 mSv/year, averaged over defined periods of 5 years, with no single year exceeding 50 mSv. Such a new limit was included immediately in the Interim Edition of General Safety Requirements Part 3 of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In contrast, a dose limit of 15 mSv/year for members of the public has not been changed since the 1990 Recommendations. This paper considers the impacts of a new limit focusing on conformity with cancer risk management, the necessity of the public dose limit in planned exposure situations and the occupational dose limit in emergency exposure situations. Potential issues arising from its implementation shall also be discussed especially in terms of the compensation problem and the possibility of exceeding a dose limit in interventional cardiologists.
