Below Regulatory Concern

Large populations all over the globe continue to be exposed to low-level radiation. Sources include natural background radiation , widespread medical uses of ionizing radiation , releases and leakages from nuclear power and weapons manufacturing plants and waste storage sites. An added potential hazard to public health in the United States stems from government plans to deregulate low-level radioactive waste generated in industry, research, and hospitals and allow it to be mixed with general household trash and industrial waste in unprotected dump sites.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans to deregulate some of this radioactive waste and treat it as if it were not radioactive. The makers of radioactive waste have asked the NRC to treat certain low levels of radiation exposure with no regulations. The NRC plan, called Below Regulatory Concern (BRC), will categorize some of this waste as acceptable for regular dumping or recycling . It will deregulate radioactive consumer products, manufacturing processes and anything else that their computer models project would, on a statistical average, cause radiation exposures within the acceptable range. The policy sets no limits on the cumulative exposure to radiation from multiple sources or exposures or multiple human use.

In July 1991 the NRC responded to public pressure and declared a moratorium on the implementation of BRC policy. This was a temporary move, leaving the policy intact. The U. S. Department of Energy (DoE) has already dumped radioactive trash on unlicensed incinerators. Although DoE is not regulated by the NRC, this action reflects an adoption of the BRC concept. If the BRC plan is eventually approved, radioactive waste will end up in local landfills, sewage systems, incinerators, recycling centers, consumer products and building materials, hazardous waste facilities and farmland (through sludge spreading).

Some scientists maintain that there are acceptable low levels of radiation exposure (in addition to natural background radiation) that do not pose a threat to public health. Other medical studies conclude that there is no safe level of radiation exposure. Critics claim BRC policy is nothing more than linguistic detoxification and will, if implemented, inevitably lead to increased radiation exposure levels to the public, and increased risk of cancer , birth defects , reduced immunity, and other health problems. Implementation of BRC may also mean that efficient cleanup of contaminated nuclear weapons plants (Oak Ridge, Savannah River, Fernald), nuclear reactors, and other radioactive facilities might not be completed.

Its critics contend that BRC is basically a financial, not a public health, decision. The nuclear industry has projected that it will save hundreds of millions of dollars if BRC is implemented.

[Liane Clorfene Casten ]

RESOURCES

BOOKS

Below Regulatory Concern, But Radioactive and Carcinogenic. Washington, DC: U. S. Public Interest Research Group, 1990.

Low-Level Radioactive Waste Regulation—Science, Politics and Fear. Chelsea, MI: Lewis, 1988.

Below Regulatory Concern: A Guide to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Policy on the Exemption of Very Low-Level Radioactive Materials, Wastes and Practices. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1990?.