This Safety Report explains how the concepts of attribution of health effects and inference of risks can be taken into account in the application of IAEA safety standards, so as to implement them more effectively. In particular, this publication demonstrates explicitly what the relevant provisions of the safety standards are for high and moderate levels of exposure where health effects might be able to be attributed to the exposure, and for low and very low levels of exposure where risks can only be inferred. This Safety Report also aims to support more effective communication by clarifying the proper use of certain concepts detailed in the safety standards and plain language explanations of the concepts of attribution of effects and inference of risk are provided.

• 1. INTRODUCTION
  • 1.1. Background
  • 1.2. Objective
  • 1.3. Scope
  • 1.4. Structure
• 2. RISK RELATED CONCEPTS
  • 2.1. Attribution of health effects to past radiation exposures
    • 2.1.1. Deterministic effects
    • 2.1.2. Stochastic effects
    • 2.1.3. The dose‒response relationship
  • 2.2. Inference of health risks from radiation exposures
    • 2.2.1. Frequentist risk and subjective risk
    • 2.2.2. Inferring radiation risks for purposes of estimating health effects
    • 2.2.3. Inferring radiation risks for purposes of radiation protection
  • 2.3. Estimation of health effects for comparative purposes
• 3. BASIS OF THE SAFETY STANDARDS
  • 3.1. Purpose of the safety standards
  • 3.2. Development and use of the safety standards
  • 3.3. Scope of the safety standards
  • 3.4. The fundamental safety principles
    • 3.4.1. The concepts of attribution and inference and the principle of justification
    • 3.4.2. The concepts of attribution and inference and the principle of optimization of protection and safety
    • 3.4.3. The concepts of attribution and inference and the principle of limitation of risks to individuals
• 4. PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF RISK RELATED CONCEPTS FOR DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF EXPOSURE
  • 4.1. Public exposure
    • 4.1.1. Doses and health effects associated with public exposure
    • 4.1.2. Control of public exposure in the safety standards
  • 4.2. Occupational exposure
    • 4.2.1. Doses and health effects associated with occupational exposure
    • 4.2.2. Control of occupational exposure in the safety standards
  • 4.3. Medical exposure
    • 4.3.1. Doses and health effects associated with medical exposure
    • 4.3.2. Control of medical exposure in the safety standards
• 5. IMPLICATIONS OF THE CONCEPTS OF ATTRIBUTION OF HEALTH EFFECTS AND INFERENCE OF RISK FOR COMMUNICATION
  • 5.1. Communication about the safety standards
    • 5.1.1. Purpose of the safety standards
    • 5.1.2. Use of dose constraints and reference levels
    • 5.1.3. Use of dose limits
    • 5.1.4. Use of generic criteria for emergency exposure situations
    • 5.1.5. Use of collective dose
  • 5.2. Communication about risk and health effects
    • 5.2.1. Safety requirements for communication about risk and health effects
    • 5.2.2. Communication about risk and health effects using the concepts of attribution and inference
• AppendixA PLAIN LANGUAGE EXPLANATION OF THE CONCEPTS OF ATTRIBUTION AND INFERENCE TO SUPPORT PUBLIC COMMUNICATION
• REFERENCES
• CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW