Radiological protection of non-human biota: International safety standards, national implementation, and policy implications

Radiological protection was historically focused on human health, based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection’s premise that “If man is adequately protected then other living things are also likely to be sufficiently protected.” In recent decades, however, international frameworks have evolved to include direct protection of non-human biota. This study reviews the evolution of conceptual and regulatory frameworks for non-human biota protection, focusing on changes in international recommendations concerning reference organisms or reference animals and plants, dose criteria, dose coefficients, relative biological effectiveness, as well as the development and application of dose assessment tools. In addition, case studies of nuclear facilities—including nuclear power plants and radioactive waste repositories—are compared across Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which apply country-specific dose criteria, and Finland and Sweden, which adopt the European Union screening value (10 μGy/h). No ecologically significant effects have been assessed at the population level in these case studies. Despite international recommendations for the direct protection of non-human biota, the extent and scope of national implementation differ considerably. Therefore, this study proposes a screening approach to evaluate whether direct protection of non-human biota is warranted, based on retrospective assessments of potential radiological impacts.