ALLIANCE perspectives on integration of humans and the environment into the system of radiological protection

Risks posed by the presence of radionuclidesin the environment require an efficient, balanced, and adaptable assessment for protecting exposed humans and wildlife, and managing the associated radiologicalrisk. Exposure of humans and wildlifeoriginate from the same sources releasing radionuclidesto the environment. Environmental concentrations of radionuclidesserve as inputs to estimate the dose to man, fauna, and flora, with transfer processes being, in essence, similar, which calls for a common use of transport models. Dose estimates are compared with the radiologicalprotection criteria for humans and wildlife, such as those developed by the International Commission on RadiologicalProtection. This indicates a similarity in the approaches for impact assessmentin humans and wildlife, although some elements are different (e.g. the protection endpoint for humans is stochastic effects on individuals, whereas for wildlife, it is deterministic effects on species and ecosystems). Human and environmental ...