It is important that Hong Kong, as a major importer of food from the People's Republic of China, should agree with the PRC, the DERI values which will be applied to produce exported from the PRC to Hong Kong.
As a follow-up activity to the Chernobyl Post-Accident Review Meeting (ref 6) the IAEA, together with a number of other international organisations, are considering the subject of DERLs. It is recommended that initially the advice given by the NRPB (ref 38) should be utilized for planning and training purposes. However, before Daya Bay becomes operational it is likely that further advice will be available from the IAEA and other international organisations. It is therefore important that a watching brief is maintained by the Radiological Protection Advisory Group on international developments in this field, (see Section 12.18).
Applications of DERLS
In principle, foodstuffs are banned if the levels of radioactive contamination exceed the DERL. This would almost certainly be the lower DERL, but in exceptional circumstances it could be a level higher than this but not exceeding the upper DERL.
In theory it is possible that a number of foodstuffs, all with acceptable levels of contamination below the lower DERL, could be consumed by a group of people and hence give rise to individual doses which would exceed the lower ERI.. It is unlikely that this situation would arise in practice since exposure pathways via ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs are usually dominated by one, or at most a few, foodstuffs. However, this possibility should be noted and if necessary DERI. values reduced to ensure that individual doses are kept below ERL values.
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