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UNITED STATES |
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION APR i 5 1977

WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555

APR 13 1977

 

Professor Joshua Lederberg

Department of Genetics

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California 94305

Dear Professor Lederberg:

This is in reply to your March 8, 1977 letter requesting information on
the origins of the value of $1000 per man-rem used in Section IID of
Appendix I to Part 50 of our regulations. Your indication that this value
is more conservative than the value you derived and published in the
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is appropriate. As indicated in the enclosed
Federal Register Notice (pp. 19440-19441) which accompanied the issuance
of Appendix I, the record of the Appendix I rulemaking proceeding did not
provide, in the Commission's view, an adequate basis for selection of a
specific dollar per man-rem value. The choice of the $1,000 per man-rem
value was believed to be a conservative choice which was somewhat

higher than the highest value in the literature. This value is only an
interim value for use until a more appropriate estimate can be made.

We are currently initiating the technical studies for estimating the
health costs associated with low-level irradiation. This effort will be
based upon estimates of the health costs for both somatic and genetic
effects to the extent they can be determined from current bioeffects data.

We would appreciate any suggestions that you might have regarding the
approach that should be used for this evaluation. Harold Peterson
(301-443-6900) of my staff is the task leader for this effort. I am
sure that any suggestions you might have, particularly in the evaluation
of effects to future generations, would be extremely helpful to us.

Thank you for your comments and interest regarding the use of the
dollar/man-rem criterion in our regulations. As one of the pioneers in
this area, your comments are especially appreciated. We will send a
separate reply to your other letter regarding the application of the
dollar/man-rem value to occupational exposure.

Sincerely,
‘)
R. B. Minogue, Director

Office of Standards Development

Enclosure:
40 FR 19439