NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

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No. 00-179 November 16, 2000

COMMISSIONER DICUS ELECTED TO GOVERNING BODY

OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION

Commissioner Greta Joy Dicus of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been elected to

the Main Commission of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). It is the

first time that a member of the NRC or its predecessor agency, the Atomic Energy Commission, has

been named to that world body. She is the second of only three women ever named to the Main

Commission.

The election of Ms. Dicus to the 13-member governing body of the ICRP was announced by

Professor Roger H. Clarke, its Chairman. He is the Director of the United Kingdom’s National

Radiological Protection Board and also his country’s representative to the United Nations Scientific

Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. The term is for four years beginning July 1, 2001.

“I am extremely honored to have been elected to serve on so prestigious and important a body

as the ICRP,” Ms. Dicus said. “While continuing my present responsibilities at the NRC, I intend to

devote such time as is necessary to help further the ICRP’s work in advancing the public’s

understanding of radiation protection by providing sound recommendations and guidance on all aspects

of protection against ionizing radiation.”

The ICRP, established in 1928, is an advisory body which offers recommendations on the

fundamental principles and quantitative bases upon which safe and effective radiation protective

measures can be taken by various governments, legislatures and regulatory bodies around the world.

Commissioner Dicus, a member of the NRC since 1996, is a health physicist whose primary

interests include formulating and helping make policy decisions regarding nuclear materials and

facilities under the authority of the Atomic Energy Act, as amended. Her current term as an NRC

Commissioner will run until June 30, 2003. From July 1 until October 29, 1999, she served as

Chairman of the agency.

An Arkansas native, Ms. Dicus was educated in Texas. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts

degree in biological sciences from Texas Woman’s University in 1961 and earned a Master’s degree in

radiation biology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1967. For 16 years,

from 1961 to 1977, she conducted research in radiation health effects at Harvard Medical School, Rice

University, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
Since 1962, there have been four standing Committees appointed by the ICRP’s Main

Commission: Radiation Effects, Doses from Radiation Exposures, Protection in Medicine, and

Application of the Commission’s Recommendations. In addition, the ICRP uses Task Groups and

Working Parties to prepare reports to be discussed by the Committees which are then approved by the

Main Commission. At any one time about 100 eminent scientists are actively involved in its work. A

scientific secretary coordinates the activities of the Commission and its Committees.

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