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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a January 6th report titled:
Hotline: EPA Is Taking Steps to Update its Federal Radiation Guidance (“Report”)
See Report No. 22-E-0016.
The Report is transmitted from Sean W. O’Donnell of OIG to Joseph Goffman, Acting Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Air and Radiation.
OIG undertook an evaluation of EPA’s process for updating federal radiation policies and guidance. It characterized the objective of the evaluation as determining the extent to which EPA had effectively implemented a process for reviewing and updating its federal radiation policies and guidance. Of particular focus were those that rely on the linear no-threshold model.
The OIG Report notes that EPA’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (a component of the Office of Air and Radiation) does not have a formal process for updating radiation policies and guidance. Nevertheless, the Report states that EPA has updated its radiation guidance to incorporate new data. Further, federal agencies such as the United States Department of Energy are referenced as leading research efforts on low-dose radiation. Such efforts are potentially relevant to future EPA guidance.
Topics/results addressed in the Report include:
- EPA Updates its Regulation Guidance and Has Requested Independent Peer Review
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Validated Use of LNT Model
- Low-Does Radiation Research and Federal Coordination Are Underway
A copy of the Report can be downloaded here.
