Browsing by Author "Cameron, RF"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Joint ANSTO/CSIRO seminar on ecological risk assessment, April 1996.
    (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 1996-08) Cameron, RF
    A joint ANSTO/CSIRO seminar was held at Lucas Heights on 10-11th April 1996. Its aim was to describe the current state of research and assessment capabilities within the scientific research organisations, to identify the gaps in these capabilities and to determine the opportunities for collaborative research. The seminar took the form of invited presentations outlining the work of each agency, together with case studies which presented an application of the ecological risk assessment process. The seminar provided a timely opportunity for discussion of scientific capabilities and collaboration in ecological risk assessment. The issue is currently being debated within the organisations represented and within the community. The contributions of the speakers were of a high standard and evoked significant discussion of a wide range of issues. All participants expressed a desire to continue the exchange of information and discussion of ongoing work. There was positive and enthusiastic support for the need to develop better mechanisms for collaborating in research and in establishing co-ordination of activities in this area. The agreed conclusions of the seminar were: 1. There is an urgent need to develop a national framework for ecological risk management and protocols for undertaking the various assessment stages within the framework. 2. An ecological database should be made a high priority by all the agencies. 3. A national communication network should be established as soon as possible to allow information exchange and co-ordination of activities. Tom Beer undertook to see if the CSIRO network system could be made available to a wider range of agencies. In the medium to longer term, there was considered to be great value in establishing a national co-ordination centre for ecological risk, which would be separately but jointly funded by the agencies and industry. 4. In the short term, a list of capabilities among the agencies should be established. This should also indicate contact people for the various topics. 5. A National Case Study was considered to be important in giving focus to the development of methods and in allowing collaboration on a well-defined project. 6. A Task Group was proposed to progress these issues and the various recommendations of the working groups. 7. Support should be sought from senior management in the various agencies for furthering the collaboration.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    A suggested approach for deriving risk criteria in radiation protection and land use planning
    (The Institution of Engineers Australia, 1994-05-01) Cameron, RF; Corran, ER
    In radiation protection, tolerability has been determined by setting a limit on the dose received recognizing that there is an unavoidable background level of radiation to which we are all exposed. This dose is sometimes associated with a cancer fatality coefficient to convert the dose to a probability of fatality, but it is recognised that fatality is not immediate but arises (if at all) many years after the exposure. In other hazardous industry, tolerability is based on satisfying annual fatality risk limits for the number of immediate fatalities. These limits vary with the type of land use proposed. This raises the questions of how such risks should be compared and, in particular, whether there is a basis for common risk measures to be derived. Unless this can be done, inappropriate comparisons will continue to be made. In this paper, a method is suggested for deriving measures of risk to individuals and to communities, both for activities involving radiation exposure and for accidents with other hazardous materials. The method is based on taking account of the difference between continuing releases and accidental transient releases. It is argued that the continuous releases, the lifetime risk is the most appropriate parameter both for radiation and hazardous material exposure. For accident situations both individual and societal risk curves can be drawn which take account of the difference between acute and latent fatalities. Some problems associated with societal risk curves are discussed and suggestions for their use given.