Notice of Public Meeting of the Interagency Steering Committee on Radiation Standards

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host a meeting of the Interagency Steering Committee on Radiation Standards (ISCORS) on November 14, 2011, in Washington, DC. The purpose of ISCORS is to foster early resolution and coordination of regulatory issues associated with radiation standards. Agencies represented as members of ISCORS include the following: EPA; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Department of Energy; Department of Defense; Department of Transportation; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration; and the Department of Health and Human Services. ISCORS meeting observer agencies include the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of Management and Budget, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, as well as representatives from both the States of Illinois and Pennsylvania. ISCORS maintains several objectives: Facilitate a consensus on allowable levels of radiation risk to the public and workers; promote consistent and scientifically sound risk assessment and risk management approaches in setting and implementing standards for occupational and public protection from ionizing radiation; promote completeness and coherence of Federal standards for radiation protection; and identify interagency radiation protection issues and coordinate their resolution. ISCORS meetings include presentations by the chairs of the subcommittees and discussions of current radiation protection issues. Committee meetings normally involve pre-decisional intra-governmental discussions and, as such, are normally not open for observation by members of the public or media. This is the one ISCORS meeting out of four held each year that is open to all interested members of the public. There will be time on the agenda for members of the public to provide comments. Summaries of previous ISCORS meetings are available at the ISCORS Web site, www.iscors.org. The final agenda for the November 14th meeting will be posted on the Web site shortly before the meeting.