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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 1999. Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6360.
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Evaluation of Guidelines for Exposures to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive · ~ Materials Committee on Evaluation of EPA Guidelines for Exposure to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials Board on Radiation Effects Research Commission on Life Sciences National Research Council NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, DC 1999

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS · 2101 CONSTITUTION AVENUE, N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20418 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard to appropriate balance. This report was prepared under Environmental Protection Agency contract 68D70009 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Environmental Protection Agency. Library of Congress Number 98-83159 International Standard Book Number 0-309-06297-7 A limited number of copies of this report are available from National Research Council Board on Radiation Effects Research Room 342 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418 (202) 334-2232 Copyright ~ 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America

COMMITTEE ON EVALUATION OF EPA GUIDELINES FOR EXPOSURE TO NATURALLY OCCURRING RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS BERNARD D. GOLDSTEIN (Chair), UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ MERRIL EISENBUD, Chapel Hill, NC (deceased August 1997) THOMAS F. GESELL, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID SHAWKI A. IBRAHIM, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO DAVID C. KOCHER, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN EDWARD R. LANDA, US Geological Survey, Reston, VA ANSELMO S. PASCHOA, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil CLS ADVISER FREDERICK R. ANDERSON, Cadwalader, Wickersharn and Taft, Washington, D C NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF STEVEN L. SIMON, Study Director, Board on Radiation Effects Research KAREN M. BRYANT, Project Assistant (until 10/23/98) DORIS E. TAYLOR, Staff Assistant NORMAN GROSSBLATT, Editor SPONSOR'S PROJECT OFFICER LOREN W. SETLOW, US Environmental Protection Agency 111

BOARD ON RADIATION EFFECTS RESEARCH JOHN B. LITTLE (Chair), Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (until 6/30198) R.J. MICHAEL FRY, Oak Ridge, TN* S. JAMES ADELSTEIN, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA** VALERIE BERAL, University of Oxford, United Kingdom EDWARD R. EPP, Harvard University, Boston, MA** HELEN H. EVANS, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH** MERRIL EISENBUD, Chapel Hill, NC (deceased August 1997) 1\IAURICE S. FOX, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA PHILIP C. HANAWALT, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (member until 6/30/98) LYNN W. JELINSKI, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY WILLIAM F. MORGAN, University of California, San Francisco** WILLIAM J. SCHOLL, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX DANIEL O. STRAM, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA SUSAN W. WALLACE, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont (until 6130/98) H. RODNEY WITHERS, UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF EVAN B. DOUPLE, Director, Board on Radiation Effects Research RICK JOSTES, Senior Program Officer STEVEN L. SIMON, Senior Program Officer CATHERINE S. BERKLEY, Administrative Associate KAREN BRYANT, Project Assistant (until 10/23/98) PEGGY JOHNSON, Project Assistant (until 8/19/98) DORIS E. TAYLOR, Staff Assistant * New BRER Chair effective 7/l/98 ** New members effective 7/l/98 1V

COMMISSION ON LIFE SCIENCES THOMAS D. POLLARD (Chairs, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA FREDERICK R. ANDERSON, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Washington, DC JOHN C. BAILAR, III, University of Chicago, IL PAUL BERG, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA JOANNA BURGER, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ SHARON L. DUNWOODY, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI JOHN L. EMMERSON, Indianapolis, IN NEAL L. FIRST, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI URSULA W. GOODENOUGH, Washington University, St. Louis, MO HENRY W. HEIKKINEN, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO HANS J. KENDE, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI CYNTHIA J. KENYON, University of California, San Francisco, CA DAVID M. LIVINGSTON, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA THOMAS E. LOVEJOY, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC DONALD R. MATTISON, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA JOSEPH E. MURRAY, Wellesley Hills, MA EDWARD E. PENHOET, Chiron Corporation, Emeryville, CA MALCOLM C. PIKE, Norris/USC Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA JONATHAN M. SAMET, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD CHARLES F. STEVENS, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA JOHN L. VANDEBERG, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, TX NATIONALRESEARCHCOUNCILSTAFF PAUL OILMAN, Executive Director ALVIN G. LAZEN, Associate Executive Director

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is the president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council. V1

PREFACE The human propensity to alter our environment has frequently led to the shifting of the earth's crustal constituents, at times moving naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) in closer proximity to ourselves, and at other times increasing human radiation exposure by enriching the concentration of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM). As a result of a request from the 104th Congress (Section 31 1 of H.R. 2099 and Senate Committee Report 104-318 of H.R. 3666), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asked the National Research Council to investigate and report on the scientific bases for the public recommendations of the EPA with respect to indoor radon and other naturally occurring radioactive materials. Specifically, the Research Council was asked to address the question of whether the differences in guidelines related to NORM and developed by EPA and other organizations are based upon scientific and technical information or on risk management policy. The Reseach Council was asked to comment on the relative merit of any scientific or technical differences and to assess whether there is relevant scientific information that has not been used in the development of the guidelines for NORM. The study began in March of 1997 and a committee of six scientists including international representation was appointed by the National Research Council to provide the answers to the specific EPA requests. The committee met 5 times to gather information and to deliberate its findings. Deeply saddened by the death of one of its members, the committee dedicates its report to that important member, Dr. Merril Eisenbud. During the course of He committee's deliberations, several individuals provided information to the cornrnittee. Appreciation for these contributions is extended to the following: Joseph Alvarez, Auxier and Associates Jean-Claude Dehmel, ANSI/HPS NORM Standard Working Group William P. Dornsife, Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors Naomi Harley, New York University Medical Center Joseph Hezir, EOP Group . . V11

Corey McDaniel, EOP Group Christopher B. Nelson, Environmental Protection Agency William A. Mills, Olney, MD Robert A. Nelson, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Marty Reape, FMC Corporation Alan B. Richardson, Environmental Protection Agency Loren W. Setlow, Environmental Protection Agency Charles Simmons, Kilpatrick & Stockton, LLP Robert Simon, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Phyllis Sobel, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Lawrence G. Weinstock, Environmental Protection Agency This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council's Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Frederick R. Anderson, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft Raymond D. Cooper, St. Petersburg, FL Richard J. Guimond, Motorola, Inc. William A. Mills, Olney, MD Dade W. Moeller, Dade Moeller & Associates, Inc. Raymond Paris, Oregon Health Division Richard B. Setlow, Brookhaven National Laboratory Charles Simmons, Kilpatrick & Stockton, LLP While the individuals listed above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution. The committee is very appreciative for the expertise, dedication, and hard work of the study director, Dr. Steven L. Simon. The attention to administrative details by Karen Bryant and Doris Taylor from the Research Council's Board on Radiation Effects Research, is also appreciated. Bernard D. Goldstein, Chairman V111

DEDICATION In memory of Merri! Eisenbud (1915 - 1997) This report is in many ways a product of the career of Professor Merril Eisenbud. Not only was Merril Eisenbud a member of the committee until his death in August 1997, but his scholarly writings in the discipline of environmental radiation were important influences for several generations of students and collaborators, some of whom have served on this committee. Merril Eisenbud, a truly great scientist and public-health visionary, was one of the first to actively study and teach the environmental-health implications of naturally occurring and human-made radioactive substances. Merril Eisenbud's university studies and remarkable scientific career spanned the period from the discovery of the neutron in 1932, through the development of nuclear technology, and finally to the cleanup of the world's nuclear-weapons complexes. He contributed actively long after the normal age of retirement; he published a book and several journal articles in his last year. Merril began his working career as an industrial hygienist for the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, engaging in studies of chemical and radiation hazards in industry from 1936 to 1947. His remarkable talents and energy allowed him to contribute prolifically as a scientist throughout his career while holding several demanding managerial positions. These jobs included 12 years (1947-1959) with the US Atomic Energy Commission, where he was the founding director of the Health and Safety Laboratory'. From 1954 to 1959, he served in a dual capacity as laboratory director and manager of the AEC New York Operations Office. For 2 years (1968-1970), he served as the first environmental-protection administrator for the City of New York. Merril Eisenbud's university teaching career began in 1959 when he joined the New York University Medical Center's Institute of Environmental Medicine as professor and director of the Laboratory of Environmental Studies. On retirement from active teaching at NYU in 1984 he continued on as professor emeritus of environmental medicine. At the time of his death, he was also distinguished scholar in residence at the Duke University Medical Center and adjunct professor of environmental sciences and engineering at He University of North Carolina School of Public Health. Now the Environmental Measurements Laboratory of the US Department of Energy 1X

Merril held a BSEE from the New York University College of Engineering and two honorary doctoral degrees in science. He was a member of many national and international committees, including those of agencies of the United Nations, the National Research Council, and the US government. He had been a member of the advisory councils of the Electric Power Research Institute, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, and the Beryllium Industry Scientific Advisory Committee. He was serving the National Research Council as a member of its Board on Radiation Effects Research at the time of his death. Among the awards received by Merril were the Hermann M. Biggs Medal of the New York State Public Health Association, the Arthur H. Compton Award of the American Nuclear Society, the Gold Medal of the US Atomic Energy Commission, the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Health Physics Society, the Life Award of the Power Division of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, and the Taylor Medal of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. He was an honorary life fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a corresponding member of He Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Merril published prolifically on environmental radioactivity, urban pollution, environmental effects of power generation, and human ecology. His books include four editions of Environmental Radioactivity, the most recent published in 1997; his autobiography, An Environmental Odyssey (1990~; The Environment, Technology, and Health: Human Ecology in Historic Perspective (1978~; and Biological Elects of Electric and Magnetic Fields of Extremely Low Frequency (1977~. He contributed more than 200 journal articles and book chapters to the scientific literature. This report is dedicated to Merril Eisenbud, our friend, mentor, and colleague. x

CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 2. NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY AND RADIATION 3. MAJOR SOURCES OF TECHNOEOGICAEEY ENHANCED NATURAEEY-OCCURRING RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS 4. ROLE OF EXPOSURE AND DOSE OR RISK ASSESSMENTS IN DEVELOPING RADIATION STANDARDS BASIC APPROACHES TO REGULATING RADIATION EXPOSURES OF THE PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS CONCERNED WITH RADIATION PROTECTION OF THE PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GUIDANCES AND REGULATIONS FOR NATURAEEY OCCURRING RADIONUCLIDES 16 25 62 77 92 00 109 8. INDOOR-RADON GUIDELINES AND RECOMMENDATIONS 161 9. OTHER GUIDANCES FOR TENORM 10. COMPARISON OF CURRENT GUIDANCES FOR TENORM IN THE ENVIRONMENT 188 209 1 1. ISSUES IN DEVELOPING GUIDANCES FOR TENORM 224 12. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS X1 250

CO~1E~1S (CONDOLED) MENACES APPENDS Radiation Quantities Ad Units Beams Acronyms INFO~^1IO~ 0~ COME GERBER X11

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Naturally occurring radionuclides are found throughout the earth's crust, and they form part of the natural background of radiation to which all humans are exposed. Many human activities-such as mining and milling of ores, extraction of petroleum products, use of groundwater for domestic purposes, and living in houses-alter the natural background of radiation either by moving naturally occurring radionuclides from inaccessible locations to locations where humans are present or by concentrating the radionuclides in the exposure environment. Such alterations of the natural environment can increase, sometimes substantially, radiation exposures of the public. Exposures of the public to naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) that result from human activities that alter the natural environment can be subjected to regulatory control, at least to some degree. The regulation of public exposures to such technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory and advisory organizations is the subject of this study by the National Research Council's Committee on the Evaluation of EPA Guidelines for Exposures to Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials.

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