Current News

31 January 2012

CRCPD & CDC Grants for Volunteer Corps

The Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) is pleased to announce the Radiation Response Volunteer Corps (RRVC) grant for 2012. CRCPD, in a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has funding for at least 10 grant awards not to exceed $25,000 each. The goal of this grant is to reach out to radiation professionals who have a desire to volunteer in their communities in the event of a radiological incident that would require population monitoring. As envisioned, population monitoring would take place at a community reception center and would utilize radiation professionals to help monitor the impacted population and oversee wash stations for decontamination.

In 2009-2011, a pilot radiation response volunteer project was conducted in five states and one municipality. Each state worked on unique aspects of the project, with the end result being an increased awareness of the different types of radiation professionals, the development of mechanisms for integrating radiation professionals into volunteer mechanisms and state response plans, and the performance of training for potential volunteers. The final report of that project can be found at the CRCPD website at http://www.crcpd.org/Homeland_Security/RRVC_FinalReport.pdf.

The CRCPD is inviting proposals from state radiation control programs, health department preparedness programs, and local nongovernment radiation professional organizations in partnership with radiation control and public health preparedness. This could include chapters of the Health Physics Society.

For more details on the specifics of the request for proposals, go to the CRCPD website. 

The deadline for the first round of grants was 31 January 2012.

Although proposals will be accepted throughout the year, in order to project a reasonable number of sub-awards per year, they ask that if your HPS chapter is interested in submitting a proposal during the first year of the project, send a Letter of Intent to Ruth McBurney, Executive Director of CRCPD at rmcburney@crcpd.org by 22 February 2012.

30 January 2012

America's Nuclear Future

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future released its final commission report to the U.S. Energy Secretary on 26 January 2012. The report is the culmination of nearly two years of work by the commission and its subcommittees detailing comprehensive recommendations for creating a safe, long-term solution for managing and disposing of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. See the results of the study here. 

20 January 2012

Boice Nominated President of NCRP

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) has announced that Dr. John D. Boice, Jr., has been nominated to serve as the Council’s fifth president. Read more in the NCRP press release. 

11 January 2012

Schauer Given the Butterfly Award from Image Gently

Dr. David Schauer has been given the 2011 Image Gently Butterfly Award.

The Image Gently Butterfly award is given to an individual or organization within or outside of the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging who makes a significant contribution to radiation protection for children. Nominations are solicited from the Image Gently Steering Committee, which includes representatives from the four founding organizations and includes radiologic technologists, medical physicists, and radiologists.

Congratulations to Dr. Schauer.

10 January 2012

Kase President's Report to IRPA

Kenneth Kase's last report as president of the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) is now posted on the IRPA website.  See "IRPA News from the President."  

7 December 2011

IRPA13 Accepting Posters

The International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) is pleased to announce that over 1,150 abstracts have already been accepted for the IRPA13 Congress in May 2012. IRPA has, however, become aware that there are still colleagues who would like to submit further abstracts and hence share their experience and knowledge with the international community. To meet this demand, the abstract submission system is being reopened immediately, and it will remain open until 29 February 2012.

Since the selection of oral presentations has already been completed, any new abstract submissions can only be considered for poster presentation. IRPA hopes to be able to confirm acceptance within two weeks of abstract submission.