Glossary

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} A

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Activity Concentration

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The activity per unit mass or volume, e.g. Bq kg-1, Bq l-1

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} ALARA

Unknown macro: {table-cell} "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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Assessment Endpoint

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The biological effect inferred from measurements or predictions and which the assessment framework is designed to study.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Assessment Framework

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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B

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} BCG calculator

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Bioaccumulation

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The process whereby an organism accumulates substances in living tissues to concentrations higher than those existing in the surrounding media.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Bioavailability

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Biological half-life

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Biosphere

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} BPEO

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Best Practicable Environmental Option, see BAT.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} BWG

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Conceptual model

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} CR

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} DCF

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Dose Conversion Factor, see Dose Conversion Coefficient.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Dispersion model

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Dose constraint

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Dose-effect

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Dosimetry

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The measurement and calculation of radiation dose in matter and tissue resulting from exposure to ionising radiation.

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E

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Ecological impact

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The total effect of an environmental change, natural or man-made, on the community of living organisms.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Ecosystem

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The interacting system of a biological community and its nonliving surroundings.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} EDRx

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} EMRAS

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Endpoint

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Environment

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Water, air, land, plants and man and all other organisms living therein, and the interrelationships which exist among them.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Environmental Justice

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Environmental

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} ERA

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Ecological Risk Assessment

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} ERICA Tool

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Exposure

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The co-occurrence or contact between the endpoint organism and the stressor (e.g. radiation or radionuclide).

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Exposure pathway

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} FASSET

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Framework for Assessment of Environmental Impact EURATOM 5th Framework project.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Fecundity

Unknown macro: {table-cell} 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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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Foundation species

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Highly interactive species that are often extremely abundant or ecologically dominant.

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H

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Hazard

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A condition or physical situation with a potential for an undesirable consequence, such as harm to health or environment.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Hazard Identification

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Recognising that a hazard exists and trying to define its characteristics. The process of determining whether exposure to an agent can cause an increase in the incidence of an adverse health or environmental effect.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} HNED(R)

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The highest no effect dose or dose rate in a toxicity test that does not causes a statistically significant effect in comparison to the control. The same definition applies for Concentration. See NOEC.

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I

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} ICRP

Unknown macro: {table-cell} International Commission on Radiological Protection, see www.icrp.org

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} International Union of Radioecology (http://www.iur-uir.org/en/)

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Kd

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Distribution Coefficient used to quantify the equilibrium between solid and liquid phases (soil or sediment-interstitial water), usually expressed in l kg-1. It is the ratio of the mass of the solute species adsorbed (or precipitated) on the solid particles per unit of dry mass of the soil or sediment to the solute concentration in the liquid phase. It represents the partition of the solute in the soil or sediment matrix and soil or sediment water, assuming that equilibrium conditions exist between the solid and liquid phases. The Kd values are dependent on the soil or sediment physical and chemical characteristics.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Keystone species

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A species that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community and whose impact on the community is greater than would be expected based on its relative abundance or total biomass.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} LEL

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Lowest Effect Level

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Morbidity

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A loss of functional capacities generally manifested as reduced fitness, which may render organisms less competitive and more susceptible to other stressors, thus reducing the life span.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Natural Background

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The doses, dose rates or activity concentrations associated with natural sources or any other sources in the environment which are not amenable to control. This is usually considered to include doses, dose rates or concentrations due to natural sources but may also include global fallout (but not local fallout) from atmospheric nuclear weapon tests and depending upon context, fallout from incidents such as the Chernobyl accident.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} NEA

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Nuclear Energy Agency. A specialised agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). See www.nea.fr NEC No effect concentration, see NOEC, NOED(R)

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} NoE

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Network of Excellence: EC funding mechanism

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} NPP

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Nuclear Power Plant

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, see www.oecd.org

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} OSPAR

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The mechanism by which 15 governments of the western coasts and catchments of Europe, together with the EC, cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} PNED(R)

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Predicted No-Effect Dose (Rate) expressed in Gy or Gy per unit of time.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Precautionary Principle

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The precautionary principle applies where scientific evidence is insufficient, inconclusive or uncertain and preliminary scientific evaluation indicates that there are reasonable grounds for concern that the potentially dangerous effects on the environment, human, animal or plant health may be inconsistent with the desired level of protection.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Protection goal

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The measurable aims of environmental protection

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Radiation weighting factors

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Factor (numeric value) which represents the relative biological effectiveness of the different radiation types, relative to X- or gamma-rays, in producing endpoints of ecological significance.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Radioactive Substance

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A substance that emits ionising radiation. See also radioactive material.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Radionuclide

Unknown macro: {table-cell} An unstable nuclide that undergoes spontaneous transformation, emitting ionising radiation.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} RBE

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Relative Biological Effectiveness: For a given type of radiation, the RBE is the dose of the reference radiation needed to produce the same effect dose of the given radiation needed to produce a given biological effect.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Receptor

Unknown macro: {table-cell} See ecological receptor

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Relative Biological Response

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The proportion or absolute size of an exposed population that demonstrates a specific effect. May also refer to the nature of the effect.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Risk

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A statistical concept describing the expected frequency or probability of undesirable effects arising from exposure to a contaminant. A measure of the probability that damage to life, health, property, and/or the environment will occur as a result of a given hazard. A technical estimation of risk is usually based on the expected value of the conditional probability of the event occurring times the consequence or magnitude of the event given that it has occurred.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Risk characterisation

Unknown macro: {table-cell} The synthesis of information obtained during risk assessment for use in management decisions. This should include an estimation of the probability (or incidence) and magnitude (or severity) of the adverse effects likely to occur in a population or environmental compartment, together with identification of uncertainties.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Risk evaluation

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A component of risk assessment in which judgments are made about the significance and acceptability of risk.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} RQ

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Risk Quotient: ratio of predicted dose rate to benchmark dose rate.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Safety factors

Unknown macro: {table-cell} See assessment factor.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Screening value

Unknown macro: {table-cell} As used by the ERICA and PROTECT projects the screening value is equivalent to the PNED(R).

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} SETAC

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} SSD

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Species Sensitivity Distribution establishing the statistical distribution of the radiosensitivity of species.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Synergism

Unknown macro: {table-cell} An interaction between two substances that results in a greater effect than both of the substances could have had acting independently.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} TeNORM

Unknown macro: {table-cell} Technologically-Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material. Refers to radioactive materials that occur naturally but which have been exposed or concentrated by human activity.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Threshold

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A contaminant concentration (or dose), below which no deleterious effect occurs.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Toxicant

Unknown macro: {table-cell} A substance that kills or injures an organism through chemical or physical action or by altering the organism's environment; for example, cyanides, phenols, pesticides, or heavy metals; especially used for insect control.

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} UNSCEAR

Unknown macro: {table-cell} United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} V

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Unknown macro: {table-cell} Wildlife

Unknown macro: {table-cell} All non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms.