THE 1965 RECOMMENDATIONS OF ICRP

Abstract In 1965 the ICRP adopted the text of an entirely revised edition of its basic recommendations; this has recently been published as ICRP Publication 9. * The new recommendations are intended to replace those published in 1959, which were amended and revised in 1962. While the new publication results from an extensive review that the Commission has been carrying out during the past three years, most of the basic principles previously formulated by the Commission remain essentially unchanged; the new recommendations are intended as a clarification of the fundamental bases of radiation protection. Some of the more important modifications that have been introduced will be discussed, including the following: the concept of the dose limit (or maximum permissible dose) in relation to an acceptable risk; the distinction between dose limits for controlled situations and action levels for unforeseen and unplanned conditions; new emphasis on a year as the period over which the dose limit is assessed; the new recommendation for the raising of the amount permitted in a quarter of a year to one-half of the annual limit; doses to be permitted for planned special exposures; dose limits for members of the public, and the concept of the critical group; accidental and emergency exposure of radiation workers and of the public; categories of exposure—adults exposed in the course of their work, and members of the public.