Linear, No Threshold Model in Radiation Protection and Safety:Standards Thrive on 'Assumptions' and not on Science-Based Evidence

Lauriston Taylor in his 1980 Sievert Lecture (Health Phys., 1980, 39, 851-874) stated that 'some nonscientific influences prevail over scientific facts on radiation protection standards and practice'. This trend continues despite many low dose radiobiological data negating the linear, no threshold (LNT) hypothesis. More recently, Anthony D. Wrixon, a consultant to the Nuclear Energy Agency of OECD, IAEA, UNSCEAR wrote, 'Radiation protection is not "pure science"; it is based on science but also relies on assumptions that are necessary to the application of scientific knowledge to real life issues' (Radiat. Protect. Environ., 2016, 39, 117-121).