page_title: International Commission on Radiological Protection
section_title: Birth of ICRP
hierarchical_section_title: International Commission on Radiological Protection / History / Birth of ICRP
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Rolf Maximilian Sievert, strålfysiker
context_page_description: The International Commission on Radiological Protection is an independent, international, non-governmental organization, with the mission to provide recommendations and guidance on radiological protection concerning ionising radiation.
  It was founded in 1928 at the second International Congress of Radiology in Stockholm, Sweden and was then called the International X-ray and Radium Protection Committee. In 1950 it was restructured to take account of new uses of radiation outside the medical area, and given its present name.
  The ICRP is a sister organisation to the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements. In general terms ICRU defines the units, and ICRP recommends, develops and maintains the International System of Radiological Protection which uses these units.
context_section_description: After World War II the increased range and quantity of radioactive substances being handled as a result of military and civil nuclear programmes led to large additional groups of occupational workers and the public being potentially exposed to harmful levels of ionising radiation.
  Against this background, the first post-war ICR convened in London in 1950, but only two IXRPC members had survived the war; Lauriston Taylor and Rolf Sievert. Taylor was invited to revive and revise the Commission, and the Commission was now given its present name: the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Sievert remained an active member, Sir Ernest Rock Carling (UK) was appointed as Chairman, and Walter Binks (UK) took over as Scientific Secretary because of Taylor's concurrent involvement with the sister organisation, ICRU.
  At that meeting, six sub-committees were established on:
  permissible dose for external radiation
  permissible dose for internal radiation
  protection against X rays generated at potentials up to 2 million volts
  protection against X rays above 2 million volts, and beta rays and gamma rays
  protection against heavy particles, including neutrons and protons
  disposal of radioactive wastes and handling of radioisotopes
  The next meeting was in 1956 in Geneva. This was the first time that a formal meeting of the Commission took place independently of the ICR. At this meeting, ICRP became formally affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a ‘participating non-governmental organisation’.
  In 1959, a formal relationship was  established with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and subsequently with UNSCEAR, the International Labour Office (ILO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and UNESCO.
  At the meeting in Stockholm in May 1962, the Commission also decided to reorganise the committee system in order to improve productivity and four committees were created:
  C1: Radiation effects;
  C2: Internal exposure;
  C3: External exposure;
  C4: Application of recommendations
  After many assessments of committee roles within an environment of increasing workloads and changes in societal emphasis, by 2008 the committee structure had become:
  Committee 1 - Radiation effects Committee
  Committee 2 - Doses from radiation exposure
  Committee 3 - Protection in medicine
  Committee 4 - Application of the Commission's recommendations
  Committee 5 - Protection of the environment
caption: Rolf Maximilian Sievert
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