These international guidelines are based on the assumption that monitoring of environmental
components (atmosphere, water, soil and biota) as well as food quality ensure the protection of
human health[2][4][5][6][7][8]. The guidelines constitute a basis for the setting of national regulations
and standards, inter alia, for monitoring air, water and food in support of public health, specifically to
protect the public from ionizing radiation.
This document provides
— guidance to collect data needed for the assessment of human exposure to radionuclides naturally
present or discharged by anthropogenic activities in the different environmental compartments
(atmosphere, waters, soils, biological components) and food;
— guidance on the environmental characterization needed for the prospective and/or retrospective
dose assessment methods of public exposure;
— guidance for staff in nuclear installations responsible for the preparation of radiological assessments
in support of permit or authorization applications and national authorities’ officers in charge of
the assessment of doses to the public for the purposes of determining gaseous or liquid effluent
radioactive discharge authorizations;
— information for the public on the parameters used to conduct a dose assessment for any exposure
situations to a representative person/population. It is important that the dose assessment process
be transparent, and that assumptions are clearly understood by stakeholders who can participate
in, for example, the selection of habits of the representative person to be considered.
Generic mathematical models used for the assessment of radiological human exposure are presented
to identify the parameters to monitor, in order to select, from the set of measurement results, the "best
estimates" of these parameter values. More complex models are often used that require the knowledge
of supplementary parameters.
The reference and limit values are not included in this document.