1988 Volume 23 Issue 4 Pages 303-308
To carry out Cost-Benefit Analysis in the optimization of radiation protection, first, we have to overcome the paradoxical problem in ethics, that is, how to convert radiological detriments into monetary value. Radiological detriments are composed of not only the objective health detriment (alpha-detriment) but also subjective non-health ones due to psychological stresses against radiological risks (beta-detriments).
Nevertheless we can't neglect the problem of Cost-Benefit Analysis because of the fact that protectional costs are apt to be reduced as other fundamental production costs from the managemental point of view.
The authors have proposed following two different situations concerning the treatment of radiological detriments in the decision-making processes for the optimization of radiation protection. That is,
(1) Since protectional decision making processes for workers are parts of the total safety planning of the facility of interest, beta-detriments for workers should be discussed and determined in the labourmanagement negotiations.
(2) In case of publics, subjective non-health detriments arise from the gap between radiation risks and radiation risk perception that can be clarified by social research techniques.
In addition, this study has clarified criteria in planning of social researches for beta-detriments and constructed a theoretical model designed for these.
