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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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A better model? Low levels of radiation and health effects
One of the more pivotal issues in facilitating the use of radiation sources—including nuclear power—in the United States (and most of the Western world) is concern about the health effects of low levels of radiation. The current regulatory assumption is that every additional increment of radiation linearly increases the risk of cancer.
D. W. Muir
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 101 | Number 1 | January 1989 | Pages 88-93
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE89-A23596
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Optimum procedures for the statistical improvement, or adjustment, of an existing data evaluation are redeveloped from first principles, consistently employing a minimum-variance viewpoint. A set of equations is derived that provides improved values of the data and their covariances, taking into account information from supplementary measurements and allowing for general correlations among all measurements. The minimum-variance adjustment equations thus obtained are found to be equivalent to a method suggested by Linnik and applied by a number of authors to the analysis of fission reactor integral experiments. The minimum-variance solution is also shown to give the same results as the commonly applied normal equations, but with reduced matrix inversion requirements. Examples are provided to indicate some potential areas of application.