Developing the system of radiological protection to enhance its contribution to sustainable development

The ICRP stated in 2007 that the primary aim of its recommendations is to contribute to an appropriate level of protection for people and the environment from the detrimental effects of radiation exposure without unduly limiting the desirable human actions which lead to such exposure. We face climate, humanitarian, biodiversity, health, pollution, and other crises. This rapidly changing context has potential implications for: the radiological protection system; views on what constitutes desirable human actions; and for how societies view the risks and benefits of technologies. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an ideal framework for facilitating a balanced approach to socio-economic development, good health and wellbeing and environmental protection. The SDGs could be used to guide the development and application of the radiological protection system to ensure that it is fit for the 21st century. This paper considers the fundamental purposes of sustainable development and radiological protection and their underpinning values and principles. It considers how radiological protection contributes to sustainable development and how this might be enhanced; and whether the primary aim of radiological protection should be amended to make its contribution to sustainable development explicit.