Federal Contaminated Site Risk Assessment in Canada, Part VI: Guidance on Human Health Detailed Quantitative Radiological Risk Assessment (DQRARAD) [Health Canada, 2010]

2010
ISBN: 978-1-100-17673-4
Cat.: H128-1/11-634E-PDF

This guidance document (Federal Contaminated Site Risk Assessment in Canada, Part VI: Guidance on Human Health Detailed Quantitative Radiological Risk Assessment (DQRA_RAD)) was prepared to provide guidance for federal departments.

The primary users of this risk assessment guidance manual are anticipated to be risk assessors who conduct quantitative HHRAs at federal contaminated sites in Canada under the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FCSAP) program. The manual will also be useful to risk assessment reviewers (regulators), risk managers (regulators or site owners), and other professionals in industry who are involved in the site investigation and remediation process. It is important to provide guidance to risk assessors who conduct quantitative HHRAs at contaminated sites containing radioactive material under the FCSAP program to ensure consistency, comparability, and defensibility of those assessments.

Individuals with various scientific backgrounds and experience in radiological risk assessments will look to this manual for guidance on how to conduct a radiological risk assessment. Therefore, this manual is designed not only as a "how to" document for conducting typical radiological risk assessments, but also as an educational document explaining "why" certain things are done or steps are taken, etc. The manual also provides a background to the principles applied to radiological risk assessments and a comparison with conventional chemical risk assessments. A brief discussion of more sophisticated methodologies for conducting radiological risk assessments is also provided. The manual provides considerable background information relevant to radiological dose and risk assessment, and outlines the various steps in the radiological risk assessment process.