Abstract
Present ALARA (As Low as Reasonably Achievable) activities in three US nuclear power plants were investigated, which were Vogtle (PWR), ANO (PWR), and Quad Cities (BWR). They have been developing and continuing their own activities for over 20 years, and they have been in fact succeeding in reducing the collective doses of workers to certain levels. They are now focusing on “reducing dose” in this stage through the wide campaign under the cooperation between the authority and operators. Some of their recent attempts would provide Japanese nuclear power plants with useful information. A next discussion point would be “what is the real meaning of “ALARA”?”, which we concluded after the information-exchange and discussion with health physics experts in the three US plants. The US experts also agreed to this. The key is especially the term of “reasonably”. With referring to their experiences as well as understanding any difference of both countries, we should go toward the better dose control for workers in nuclear power plants.
