Abstract
Implications of risk estimates, as required for practical radiation protection purposes, were explored through a preliminary re-analysis of leukaemia in the Japanese atomic bomb survivors using a biologically based cancer model. The calculations for the risks posed for contracting leukaemia pointed to important differences between low-dose-rate ('chronic') and high-dose-rate ('acute') exposures. For example, the risks caused by long-term ('chronic') exposures are calculated to be substantially lower than those for 'acute' exposures. In view of these model predictions the results of epidemiological studies are discussed.