Federal Guidance for Radiation Protection

Federal guidance reports are used by federal and state agencies in developing protection regulations and standards to protect the American public from harmful effects of radiation. EPA's federal guidance authority allows EPA to provide advice to federal agencies about radiation matters directly or indirectly affecting public health.

There are two types of federal guidance:

Technical reports provide current scientific and technical information for conducting radiation dose and risk assessments. Federal and state agencies use these reports to develop and implement radiation protection regulations and standards. Regulated entities also use these reports for demonstrating regulatory compliance.
Policy recommendations are guidelines for radiation protection of the public and workers that are signed by the President of the United States and issued by EPA

On this page:

Technical Reports
Policy Recommendations

Technical Reports

Federal Guidance Report No. (FGR)	Issued	Description
15	2019	*External Exposure to Radionuclides in Air, Water and Soil* This federal guidance updates and expands the 1993 Federal Guidance Report No. 12 (FGR 12), providing age-specific reference person effective dose rate coefficients for 1,252 radionuclides based on external exposure to radionuclides distributed in air, water or soil. Compared to FGR 12, FGR 15 incorporates six different age groups (whereas FGR 12 had one), updated tissue weighting factors (as recommended in ICRP Publication 103) and radionuclide decay data (as provided in ICRP Publication 107), and improved computing power to provide more precise calculations.
14	2014	Radiation Protection Guidance for Diagnostic and Interventional X-Ray Procedures This federal guidance provides federal facilities that use diagnostic and interventional x-ray equipment with recommendations for keeping patient doses as low as reasonably achievable without compromising the quality of patient care. The Interagency Working Group on Medical Radiation updated this guidance to address the significant increase in the use of digital imaging technology, such as CT scans, and high dose procedures, such as interventional fluoroscopy. This report supersedes Federal Guidance Report No. 9.
13	1999	Cancer Risk Coefficients for Environmental Exposure to Radionuclides: Updates and Supplements This report provides methods and data for estimating risks due to both internal and external exposures. It includes coefficients for assessing cancer risks from environmental exposure to about 800 radionuclides. Both mortality and incidence coefficients are tabulated for inhalation, food and water ingestion, submersion in air and exposure to uniform soil concentrations. The age-averaged coefficients consider age-specific intake rates, dose modeling and risk modeling. The information presented in this report is for use in assessing risks from radionuclide exposure in a variety of applications ranging from environmental impact analyses of specific sites to the general analyses that support rulemaking. To view the report and other materials see: Federal Guidance Report No. 13: Supporting Materials
12	1993	External Exposure to Radionuclides in Air, Water, and Soil The external dose coefficients in this report are intended for use by federal agencies having regulatory responsibilities for protection of members of the public and/or workers. We also encourage their use by state and local authorities.
11	1988	*Limiting Values of Radionuclide Intake and Air Concentration and Dose Conversion Factors for Inhalation, Submersion, and Ingestion* This report provides limiting values of radionuclide intake and derived air concentrations for control of occupational exposure that are consistent with the 1987 federal guidance policy recommendation, Radiation Protection Guidance to Federal Agencies for Occupational Exposure. The derived guides serve as the basis for setting upper bounds on the inhalation and ingestion of, and submersion in, radioactive materials in the workplace. The report also includes tables of exposure-to-dose conversion factors for general use in assessing average individual committed doses in any population that is adequately characterized by Reference Man (ICRP 1975). This report supersedes Federal Guidance Report No. 10.
10	1984	The Radioactivity Concentration Guides This report has been superseded by Federal Guidance Report No. 11 above.
9	1976	Radiation Protection Guidance for Diagnostic X-rays This report and its companion, Background Report: Recommendations on Guidance for Diagnostic X-Ray Studies in Federal Health Care Facilities, have been superseded by Federal Guidance Report No. 14 above.
8	1967	*Guidance for the Control of Radiation Hazards in Uranium Mining* (Federal Radiation Council) This report contains background material used in the development of the Federal Guidance policy recommendation, Underground Mining of Uranium Ore.
7	1965	Background Material for the Development of Radiation Protection Standards: Protective Action Guides for Strontium-89, Strontium-90 and Cesium-137 (Federal Radiation Council) This report provides background material used in the development of guidance for federal agencies in planning activities to protect the population from strontium-89, strontium-90, and cesium-137 for certain situations.
6	1964	Revised Fallout Estimates for 1964-1965 and Verification of the 1963 Predictions (Federal Radiation Council) This report documented a study showing that the predictions in the Federal Radiation Council Report No. 4 were substantially correct, and the conclusions in that report still apply.
5	1964	Background Material for the Development of Radiation Protection Standards (Federal Radiation Council) This guidance provided background material used in developing guidance for Federal agencies for (1) planning protective actions to reduce potential doses to the population from radioactive products which may contaminate food, and (2) doses at which implementation of protective actions may be appropriate.
4	1963	*Estimates and Evaluation of Fallout in the United States from Nuclear Weapons Testing Conducted Through 1962* (Federal Radiation Council) This report provided an analysis of the levels of anticipated in 1963 and subsequent years following the programs of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing conducted through 1962. The report forecasted a substantial increase in the probable levels of radionuclides from fallout during 1963, with decreasing quantities in subsequent years.
3	1962	*Health Implications of Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Testing Through 1961* (Federal Radiation Council) This report evaluated the health implication of fallout from nuclear weapons testing conducted through 1961. It concluded that nuclear testing through 1961 increased the normal risks of adverse health effects to the general population by small amounts.
2	1961	*Background Material for the Development of Radiation Protection Standards(Federal Radiation Council) This report provided the background information for the 1961 federal guidance policy recommendation, Radiation Protection Guidance for Federal Agencies*. It includes Radiation Protection Guides for certain organs of individuals in the general population, as well as averages across exposed populations.
1	1960	*Background Material for the Development of Radiation Protection Standards* (Federal Radiation Council) This report provided the background information for the development of the 1960 and 1961 policy recommendations, Radiation Protection Guidance for Federal Agencies. It introduced and defined the term "Radiation Protection Guide" (RPG). It provided numerical values for RPGs for the whole body and certain organs of radiation workers, and for the whole body of individuals in the general population, as well as average population gonadal dose.

Policy Recommendations

Issued	Description
1987	Radiation Protection Guidance to Federal Agencies for Occupational Exposure This guidance provides general principles and specifies the numerical primary guides for limiting worker exposure. It applies to all workers who are exposed to radiation in the course of their work, either as employees of institutions and companies subject to Federal regulation or as Federal employees.
1978	Radiation Protection Guidance to Federal Agencies for Diagnostic X-rays This guidance is superseded by Federal Guidance Report No. 14.
1970	Underground Mining of Uranium Ore (Federal Radiation Council) This guidance sets forth recommendations for radiation protection activities as they apply to the underground mining of uranium ore. EPA subsequently reviewed these recommendations and concluded that no modification was necessary.
1961	Radiation Protection Guidance for Federal Agencies (Federal Radiation Council) (pdf) ( 357.83 K) This guidance presents recommendations for population groups exposed to environmental sources of radiation. It provides Radiation Protection Guides (RPG); guidance on general principles of control applicable to all environmental radionuclides; and specific guidance in connection with exposure of population groups to radium-226, iodine-131, strontium-90, and strontium-89.
1960	Radiation Protection Guidance for Federal Agencies (Federal Radiation Council) This guidance provides a general framework for radiation protection and general principles of radiation control based on the annual intake of radioactive materials. These recommendations provide the basis for the control and regulation of radiation exposure during normal peacetime operations. Numerical values for the Radiation Protection Guides (RPG), designed to limit the exposure of the whole body and certain organs, are provided.