N.Z. Contribution To Radiation Seminar

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30286, 12 November 1963, Page 12

N.Z. Contribution To Radiation Seminar

Mr J. F. McCahon, of the National Radiation Laboratory. Department of Health. Christchurch, will leave on Thursday to attend an international seminar in Geneva on the protection of the public in the event of radiation accidents, and to study new equipment installed in Vienna to measure radioactive contamination within the human body. The conclusions of the seminar will be closely studied in New Zealand in the redrafting of acts and regulations governing radiation precautions. Measuring equipment similar to that to be observed by Mr McCahon may be installed in this country. The seminar, which will last from November 18 to 22. has been convened jointly,by the World Health Organisation. the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation The central problem to be discussed will be the maximum acceptable levels of radiation exposure for the population in emergency situations. Mr McCahon will read a paper to describe his work in deriving acceptable emergency levels for his laboratory’s evaluation of the results of the New Zealand monitoring system in the Pacific Islands during last year’s American tests in the Pacific. Mr McCahon has already contributed an article on the monitoring system to “Health Physics,” the leading international scientific journal in this field, at the invitation of its editor. Other subjects to be reviewed at the seminar include the problems associated with the radioactive contamina'.ion of persons, food, and agricultural resources: the scientific basis for assessing the risks involved in radiation exposure in general: and the weighing of these risks against those of possible preventive and protective mea- • sures. , The New Zealand acts and

regulations under review include the Radioactive Substances Act, 1949. the Radiation Protection Regulations. 1951, and the Transport of Radioactive Substances Regulations, 1951. The equipment to be studied by Mr McCahon at Vienna is at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Put into operation in the last few months, the apparatus makes nossible the measurement of the amount of radioactive substances distributed throughout the whole body of persons who have ingested or inhaled radioactive substances. The installation includes the latest developments in this field, and according to the director of the laboratory (Mr G. E. Roth) “first-hand knowledge of its performance should be of immediate applicability to the planning of a similar installation in New Zealand." Also to be discussed by Mr McCahon in Vienna are the agency's draft international regulations for the transport of radioactive substances General agreement is highly desirable in this matter because of the relatively large quantities of such substances which cross international frontiers.