What are the lessons learnt from the past decades with radiation protection in the nuclear industry?
If we look back at the history of nuclear power, there has been a constant reduction in occupational exposure and radioactive releases into the environment. There are between 600,000 and 700,000 people working in the nuclear industry across the world, and exposure of workers has fallen by 75% over the last 40 years. In terms of radioactive releases into the environment which could potentially impact on the general public, there has been a regular reduction over the last decades. Interestingly, beyond the protection of the individual, there is now more concern about the protection of the environment too. Throughout the history of the nuclear industry, there have been several incidents with minor consequences and a few serious accidents Windscale in the United Kingdom and Kyshtym in the Soviet Union resulting in the release of radioactive substances into the environment. The most serious accident was of course, Chernobyl. This accident, more than 20 years ago, had huge social, economic a
