Investor Presentaiton
Impact on wildlife
The Committee continues to consider that regional impacts on
wildlife populations with a clear causal link to radiation exposure
resulting from the FDNPS accident would have been unlikely,
although detrimental effects on individual organisms might have
been possible, and some effects have been observed in plants
and animals in the absence of any wide-scale group impacts.
Conclusions
The Committee's revised estimates of doses to the public
and their associated uncertainties provide a more realistic
assessment of the exposure of the public resulting from the
accident at FDNPS compared with the UNSCEAR 2013 Report.
While the uncertainties in the estimated doses remain large,
the Committee is of the view that further research is unlikely to
reduce them significantly, or change the central estimates, other
than in specific circumstances (e.g., to take account of further
information on the efficacy of remediation).
Lessons for the future
Timely monitoring (e.g., whole body counting, thyroid
measurements, personal dosimetry) of representative groups
of workers and the public at the earliest opportunity after an
accident would greatly enhance the quality and informativeness
of any assessment of doses to workers and the public following
a radiological or nuclear accident. If appropriate, human
measurements are not made in the immediate aftermath of an
accident; doses to people can only be assessed using models
together with other measurements that may be available, for
example, in the facility where the accident occurred and/or in
the wider environment. Experience has shown that the use of
such models often leads to conservative estimates of doses.
Care is needed over the widespread use and interpretation
of sensitive ultrasound thyroid screening following radiation
exposure as a result of events such as the FDNPS accident. There
is compelling evidence that sensitive ultrasound screening
detects many more cases of abnormalities and cancer in the
thyroid than would be detected following the presentation of
clinical symptoms. The consequential over-diagnosis of thyroid
cancers, many of which may never result in clinical symptoms,
has the potential to cause considerable anxiety among some
of those screened and to lead to unnecessary treatment, the
detrimental effects of which may outweigh those of the radiation
exposure itself, especially if the thyroid doses are relatively low.
For further information:
UNSCEAR secretariat, Vienna International Centre, Wagramer Straße 5, P.O. Box 500, 1400, Vienna, Austria
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.unscear.org
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