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| Absorbed dose |
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| Quantity of energy imparted by ionising radiation to unit mass of matter such as tissue. Unit gray, symbol Gy. 1 Gy = 1 joule per kilogram. |
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| Activity Concentration |
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| The activity per unit mass or volume, e.g. Bq kg-1, Bq l-1 |
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| Atomic Energy Canada Limited |
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| "As low as reasonably achievable", refers to actions directed to limiting doses to individuals, the number of exposed individuals, and the probability of receiving a dose. |
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| Relationships between body mass of organisms and various parameters (including of relevance to PROTECT radionuclide biological half-life and dietary dry matter intake). |
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| Assessment Endpoint |
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| The biological effect inferred from measurements or predictions and which the assessment framework is designed to study. |
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| Assessment factor |
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| Allowance for degree of uncertainty, caused by lack of effects data. For example, an estimated lowest observed effect concentration may, as a precautionary approach, be divided by a assessment factor (normally within the range of 10 to 10000) to safeguard against harmful effects, where the magnitude of the assessment factor reflects the degree and type of uncertainty (e.g. lack of chronic exposure data, lack of data for different taxonomic groups or trophic levels, etc.). The assessment factor (AF) is also know as the safety factor. |
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| Assessment Framework |
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| Identification and demarcation of the assessment boundaries. In FASSET, the framework contains the process from problem formulation through to characterisation of the effects of radiation on individuals. The overall assessment system describes the tools, methods and information flow used to carry out the impact assessment. |
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| Authorisation |
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| The granting by a regulatory body or other governmental body of written permission for an operator to perform specified activities. |
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| Best Available Technology: a term applied to abatement technology designed to limit pollutant discharges. The term constitutes a moving target on practices, since developing societal values and advancing techniques may change what is currently regarded as 'best available'. Similar terms include 'best practicable means' and 'best practicable environmental option'. |
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| Biota Concentration Guidelines: the media concentration for which the corresponding dose rate is equal to the screening dose rate used in the USDoE's graded approach and RESRAD-BIOTA assessment tool. |
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| BCG calculator |
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| Biota Concentration Guidelines calculator: A semi-automated tool for implementing screening and analysis methods contained within the USDoE graded approach. Although the BCG calculator is still available RESRAD-BIOTA has been developed to replace it. |
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| Risk assessment benchmarks are the concentrations, doses or dose rates that are estimated to equate to predefined criteria (e.g. predicted no effects dose rate, severe risk) based on exposure-response information and political/societal decisions. |
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| Bioaccumulation |
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| The process whereby an organism accumulates substances in living tissues to concentrations higher than those existing in the surrounding media. |
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| A test to determine the relative strength of a substance by comparing its effect on a test organism with that of a standard preparation. |
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| Bioavailability |
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| Defined as the fraction of the contaminant that can be taken up by living organisms, dependant both on the chemical speciation of the exposure source(s) and on the physiological status of the organism. |
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| Biodiversity |
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| The number and abundance of species found within a common environment. This includes the variety of genes, species, ecosystems, and the ecological processes that connect everything in a common environment. |
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| Biological half-life |
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| The time required for a biological system (e.g. an animal) to eliminate, by natural processes, half the amount of a substance that has been absorbed into that system. |
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| Biomagnification |
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| Situations where the concentration of certain substances increases up the food chain. |
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| That part of the environment normally inhabited by living organisms. In practice, the biosphere is not usually defined with great precision, but is generally taken to include the atmosphere and the Earth's surface, including the soil, surface water bodies, seas and oceans and their sediments. There is no generally accepted definition of the depth below the surface at which soil or sediment ceases to be part of the biosphere, but this might typically be taken to be the depth affected by basic human actions, particularly farming. In waste safety in particular, the biosphere is normally distinguished from the geosphere. |
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| Birds Directive |
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| The abbreviated term of 'Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the Conservation of Wild Birds'. It is the aim of this directive to promote the conservation and protection of listed species of birds within the European Union. |
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| Best Practicable Environmental Option, see BAT. |
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| Best Practicable Means, see BAT. |
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| Biota Working Group: Part of the IAEA EMRAS programme aimed at comparing and validating models used and developed by member states for biota dose assessments that may be used as part of a regulatory processes concerning authorised releases of radionuclides in order to improve Member States' capabilities for protection of the environment. |
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| Conceptual model |
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| Representation of the environmental system and of the physico-chemical and biological processes that determine the transport/transfer of contaminants from sources through environmental media to ecological receptors within the system. |
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| Contaminant |
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| Any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter that has a potentially adverse effect on air, water, or soil, with the implication that the amount is measurable. |
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| Concentration ratio: ratio used to quantify the equilibrium between an environmental medium and a living organism (e.g., water to fish CR). Sometimes referred to as concentration factor or bioaccumulation factor. |
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| Cytogenetic effect |
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| An observed effect in chromosomes that can be correlated with adverse hereditary effects or genetic effects (effects that are inheritable and appear in the descendants of those exposed). |
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| Dose Conversion Coefficient expressed as Gy per unit time of the target organism per Bq per unit of mass or volume of the source. The DCC is specific to each radionuclide and organism and was calculated for external and internal exposure. Sometimes referred to as the Dose Conversion Factor. |
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| Dose Conversion Factor, see Dose Conversion Coefficient. |
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| Derived consideration level: A band of absorbed dose rate for each Reference Animal and Plant within the ICRP proposed framework. These do not represent dose limits but a range of doses which form a starting point from which dose limits may be considered in the future. |
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| Dispersion model |
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| Model for the representation of the spreading of radionuclides in air (aerodynamic dispersion) or water (hydrodynamic dispersion) resulting mainly from physical processes affecting the velocity of different molecules in the medium. |
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| See absorbed dose |
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| Dose constraint |
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| A restriction on annual dose to an individual (human), which may either relate to a single dose or to a complete site, in order to ensure that when aggregated with doses from all sources, excluding natural background and medical procedures, the dose limit is not exceeded. |
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| Dose (normally absorbed dose) received over a specified unit of time. |
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| Dose-effect |
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| The relationship between dose (usually an estimate of dose) and the gradation of the effect in an exposed population, that is a biological change measured on a graded scale of severity. |
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| Dose-response |
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| A correlation between a quantified exposure (dose) and the proportion of an exposed population that demonstrates a specific effect (response). |
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| The measurement and calculation of radiation dose in matter and tissue resulting from exposure to ionising radiation. |
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| Direct Weighted Bootstrap |
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| EA R&D 128 |
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| Radiological assessment approach for wildlife and associated tool developed by the England and Wales Environment Agency. |
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| Ecological impact |
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| The total effect of an environmental change, natural or man-made, on the community of living organisms. |
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| Ecological Receptor |
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| Living organisms at various organisational levels (i.e. ecosystems, communities, populations, individual organisms) potentially exposed to and adversely affected by stressors because they are present in the source(s) and/or along stressor migration pathways. This term dose not refer to humans. |
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| The interacting system of a biological community and its nonliving surroundings. |
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| Effect Concentration: the concentration of a chemical required to cause a given effect to x% of a population or community. For example, EC10: concentration of a chemical required to cause a given effect in 10% of a population or community. |
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| Effects Dose Rate: the radiation dose rate required to cause a given effect to x% of the measured endpoint. For example, EDR10: the dose rate required to cause the production of 10% less seeds (which in priciple could affect all of a population or community). Effect A biological change caused by an exposure. Strictly speaking, an effect is the change in an endpoint under consideration when it is compared to a control. |
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| Environmental Impact Assessment |
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| Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety: An IAEA programme aimed at improving models for the purposes of radiation protection of the public and the environment (http://www-ns.iaea.org/projects/emras). |
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| Environmental Media Concentration Limits: Used as part of the ERICA Tool and defined as the activity concentration in the selected media (soil, air, water or sediment) that would result in a dose-rate to the most exposed reference organism equal to that of the selected screening dose-rate. |
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| In toxicity testing and evaluation it is the biological response that is measured. Endpoints vary with the level of biological organisation being examined and include responses at the subcellular level to the community level such as biomarkers (subcellular level), survival, growth, reproduction (individual level), primary production, and structure (and abundance) and function in a community (population or community level). Endpoints are used in toxicity tests as criteria for effects. |
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| Environmental No Effects Value: a dose level at which a population of organisms will not be affected (defined by Environment Canada). |
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| Environment |
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| Water, air, land, plants and man and all other organisms living therein, and the interrelationships which exist among them. |
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| Environmental Impact Statement: a document providing information for decision makers on the positive and negative effects of an action, practice or policy, which identifies and evaluates the environmental impacts of the hazard source and feasible alternatives, including taking no action. |
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| Environmental Justice |
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| Often used interchangeably with the term environmental equity, refers to the distribution and effects of environmental problems and the policies and processes to reduce differences in who bears environmental risks. In a general sense, it includes concern for disproportionate risk burden placed upon any population group, as defined by gender, age, income, race, nationality or generation. |
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| Environmental quality criteria |
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| The levels of pollution and lengths of exposure, above which adverse effects may occur on health and welfare. |
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| Environmental |
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| The level of contaminants prescribed by law or regulation that cannot be quality standards exceeded during a specified time in a defined area. |
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| Environmental Quality Standards |
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| Ecological Risk Assessment |
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| ERICA Tool |
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| A tool implementing the ERICA tiered approach for radiological assessment of wildlife in freshwater, terrestrial and marine ecosystems developed by an EURATOM 6th Framework consortium. |
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| European Atomic Energy Community |
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| The co-occurrence or contact between the endpoint organism and the stressor (e.g. radiation or radionuclide). |
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| Exposure Assessment |
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| The process of measuring or estimating the intensity, frequency, and duration of exposures to an agent currently present in the environment or of estimating hypothetical exposures that might arise from the release of new chemicals into the environment. |
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| Exposure pathway |
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| A route by which radiation or radionuclides can reach humans and cause exposure - an exposure pathway may be very simple, e.g. external exposure from airborne radionuclides, or a more complex chain. |
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| Feature species |
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| see reference organisms |
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| The number of viable offspring produced by an organism; mature seeds produced, eggs laid, or live offspring delivered, excluding fertilised embryos that have failed to develop. |
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| The ability to produce offspring. |
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| Foundation species |
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| Highly interactive species that are often extremely abundant or ecologically dominant. |
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| The FASSET Radiation Effects Database (FRED) which has been updated through the addition of a quality scoring exercise of each literature source to evaluate how useable the data is in the context of defining dose (rate) effect relationships for incorporation into the SSD and other approaches. In addition new literature sources have been added to the database and it has been updated to make it available on the internet. It has been renamed as the FREDERICA database in recognition of these changes (www.frederica-online.org). |
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| Gamma air kerma |
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| Gamma air kerma is exposure measured in air which is in effect, the absorbed dose measured in air. See Kerma. |
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| Habitats Directive |
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| The abbreviated term of 'Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the |
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