ML20011F051
| ML20011F051 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 01/10/1990 |
| From: | Taylor J NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| To: | Carr, Roberts, Rogers NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 9002260552 | |
| Download: ML20011F051 (5) | |
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JAN 101990 MEMORANDUM FOR: Chairman Carr Comissioner Roberts Comissioner Rogers Comissioner Curtiss
- Comissioner Remick FROM:-
James M. Taylor Executive Director for Operations
SUBJECT:
PRELIMINARY REVIEW 0F BEIR V REPORT On December 19,'1989, the National Acadeny of Sciences National Research Council, Comittee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing _ Radiation, released a report entitled " Health Effects of Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing BEIR V."
This report is the latest in a series of reports prepared Radiation:
to advise the U.S. Government on the health consequenen of radiation exposures and update the findings of the BEIR III report in 1980.- The report contains information related to a number of topics, including estimates of risk from radiation exposure for cancer induction (solid tumors and leukemia), genetic
- effects, and prenatal.~ exposure.
The staff noted in SECY-89-360, "Comission Policy Statement on Exemptions from Regulatory Control " that the BEIR V report would be available in December 1989 and that it might be appropriate to acknowledge the report in the policy The staff has begun a detailed analysis of the BEIR V report and statement.
However a preliminary plans to provide further information on the subiect.examinationof-theBEIRVrepo information directly affecting the policy statement.
The Comission paper (SECY-89-360) contains a discussion of the information available-to the staff on the health effects of radiation in Appendix A of the policy Statement
" Dose and Health Effects Estimation." In that discussion, the staff calculated hypothesized incremental annual risk and hypothe The BEIR V report indicates that the lifetime excess risk of death per rem.
fromcancerfollowinganacutedoseof10remoflow-LETradjation(e.g., beta or_ gama radiation) is approximately 0.8 percent, or 8 x 10' per rem, and that
'the risk coefficient should be reduced, using a dose rate effectiveness factor Thus of 2 or more, when the same dose is accumulated over weeks or month per rem is slightly more conservative than the BEIR V report which is approxi-mately 4 x 10' per rem.
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The BEIR V. report also contains other information which is relevant to the considerations of exemptions from regulatory control.
In particular, the BEIR V comittee estimated: (1) that the risks from exposure to radiation are similar formalesend. females,and(2)thattheriskfromexposureduringchildhoodis estimated to be about twice as large as the risks for adults. The BEIR V comittee notEd that the atomic' bomb survivors who were irradiated early in
-life are just now reaching the age at which cancer begins to become prevalent in the general population and that it remains to be determined whether cancer rates in this group of survivors will continue to be comparable to the increased
- cancer risk that has been observed among survivors who were adults at the time of-exposure. The BEIR Y comittee also stated that the frequency of severe mental retardation in Japanese atomic bomb survivors exposed at 8 to 15 weeks i
of gestational age has been found to increase more steeply with dose that was In this respect, expected at the time of the previous BEIR III report in 1980.
the BEIR V committee noted that "pending further information, the-risk of this type of injury to the develo embryo must not be overlooked in assessing the health implications of low-1 exposure for women of childbearing age."
It should be noted that the risk coefficients used by the BEIR V comittee and However, the by the staff represent an average for all ages and both sexes.
information related to increased risks for exposure of children or exposure of the developing embryo / fetus lends technical support to the recommendation made in SECY-89-360 that there are certain practices that should not be approved for exemption, such as the introduction of radioactive materials into products to be consumed or used by children, even if the radiation doses are very small, or
-where there are practical alternatives to the use of radioactive materials.
j The BEIR V comittee also recognized that its risk estimates become more e
. uncertain when applied to very low doses but noted that departures from a i
linear model at low doses could, however, either-increase or decrease tne risk per unit dose.. The comittee concluded that the new data upon which the report
.is based "do not contradict the hypothesis, at least with respect to cancer induction and hereditary genetic effects, that the frequency of such effects
. increases with low-level radiation as a linear, nonthreshold function of the
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dose."
i Based upon its preliminary examination, the staff believes that the statements and risk estimates in the policy statement are consistent with those.in the However, the staff recommends that several changes and BEIR V report.
additions be made to the policy statement, and in particular to Appendix A, to l~
acknowledge the preliminary analysis of the BEIR V report, and to update several statements and quotes related to the BEIR III report and the risk estimates used by the Comission. The suggested changes are enclosed.
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.In preparing comments on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Cleap Air i
Act Standards, the staff noted that EPA used a risk estimate of 4 x 10' per rem, which is consistent with-the BEIR V risk estimate. Thus a risk estimate consistent with the BEIR V Report was part of the EPA and NRC knowledge when o
making the. recommendation to Congress to eliminate dual regulation of radionuclides under the Clean Air Act. Based on the review of BEIR V completed to date, there is no basis to change that position.
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Original Signed By:
James M. Taylor James M. Taylor Executive Director for Operations
Enclosure:
As stated cc:
SECY l
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RECOMMENDED CHANGES AND ADDITIONS TO SECY-89-360 page 11 - Modify the last sentence in the definition of " risk" to read as.
1.-
follows:
The fatal cancer risk is considered, in general to be either more likely orhaveamoresevereoutcomethanthepotentialgeneticandnonfatal cancer risks and the potential risk of developmental anomalies in fetuses.
While the Comission recognizes that the risks from exposure to radiation are greater for children than adults, and that there are increased risks for purposes of this policy statement, from exposure to the embryo / fetus,for all ages and both sexes is the estimate of fatal cancer risk considered to be an appropriate measure of risk from practices.being considered for exemption.
(SeeAppendixA)
Page 29 Modify the paragraph quoting the BEIR 111 committee toThe following 2.
include a quote of the BEIR V comittee.
the end of the paragraph starting at "For example,...
- on line 12 of page 29.
For example, the Committee on.the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR V) of the National Academy of Sciences has stated that it
" recognizes that its risk estimates become more uncertain when applied to Departures from a linear model at low doses, however, very low doses.
could either increase or decrease the risk per unit dose."
page 30 - Delete the words "In addition," at the beginning of the.first 3.
complete paragraph.
page 30 - Add the following paragraph after the paragraph discussing the 4.
UNSCEAR 1988 risk estimates.
In December 1989, the National Academy of Sciences / National Research Council's Committee on the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation published a report entitled " Health Effects of Exposure to Low-Levels of Ionizing Radiation: BEIR V."
This report contained risk estimates that The are, in general, similar to the findings in the 1988 UNSCEAR report.
BEIR V report's estimate of lifetime excess risk of death from cancer following-an acute dose of 10 rem of low-LET radiation was 0.8 percent.
Taking into account a dose rate effectivgness factor of 2, the risk estimate is thus on the order of 4 x 10" per rem, consistent with the upper level of risk estimated by UNSCEAR.
Page 31 - Add the following sentence at the end of the top paragraph 5.
discussing the no-threshold hypothesis.
In this respect, the BEIR V report notes that "in spite of evidence that the molecular lesions which give risk to somatic and genetic damage can be repaired to a considerable degree, the new data do not. contradict the hypothesis, at least with respect to' cancer induction and hereditary genetic effects, that the frequency of such effects increases with low-level radiation as a linear, nonthreshold function of the cose.'
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page 32 - Change the ** footnote for Table 1 to read as follows:
Risk coefficient of 5 x 10'4 perrem(5x10-2 perSV)forlowlinear energy transfer radiation has been conservatively based on the results reportedinUNSCEAR1988(Footnote 1)andBEIRV. Also, refer to NUREG/CR-4214(Rev.1).
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