Disproportionate impact of radiation and radiation regulation

ABSTRACT

Reference Man is used for generic evaluation of ionizing radiation impacts, regulation, and nuclear licensing decisions made by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC). The United States Code of Federal Regulations, 2018 edition, Chapter 10: Part 20 ‘Standards for Protection Against Radiation’ contains eight references to ‘reference man’ as the basis for regulation and calculation of radiation exposure. The document was accessed January 9, 2019 (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2018-title10-vol1/pdf/CFR-2018-title10-vol1-part20.pdf). Findings from 60 years of A-bomb survivor data show that Reference Man does not represent the human life cycle with respect to harm from radiation exposure. Findings reported here show females are more harmed by radiation, particularly when exposed as young girls, than is predicted by use of Reference Man; the difference is a much as 7-fold. Since females have been ignored in regulatory analysis, this has resulted in systematic under-reporting of harm from ionizing radiation exposure in the global population. A critique is also offered on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to include females in its regulation. Recommendations for interim regulation to provide better protection, and questions for further study are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Radiation
• female
• children
• Reference Man
• lifespan
• Hiroshima
• Nagasaki
• US NRC
• ICRP

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Correction Notice

Acknowledgments

A portion of this work was published by this author in 2011 under the title ‘Atomic Radiation Is More Harmful to Women’ (Olson 2011) and presented at the World Conference in Vienna on the Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons (Olson 2014).

The generous support of individual donors to Gender and Radiation Impact Project made this work possible, and thank you to Brita Larsen Clark for her time and editing.

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (https://doi.org/10.1080/03080188.2023.2179159)

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Notes on contributors

Mary Olson

Mary Olson is Acting Director of the Gender and Radiation Impact Project. She served from 1991 to 2019 as Staff Biologist and Senior Radioactive Waste Policy Analyst at US-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a non-government organization. Olson’s work on radiation education led her to the question of whether biological sex is a factor in radiation harm. Her paper, ‘Atomic Radiation is More Harmful to Women’ (2011) was featured at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons (2014); at the UN Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review of 2015; the International Committee of the Red Cross Asia regional meeting in St Petersburg, Russia, and the EU Gender Summit, in Brussels, both in 2016. Olson spoke at the EU Gender Summit in London, 2018, as well as the Low-Dose Radiation Conference in Stirling, Scotland. Olson is currently raising funds to support new research in existing labs (students and post-docs) on sex differences and radiation harm.