Placing long-term and acute radiation effects in a common framework.

No method presently exists for placing long-term risks from low-level radiation doses and acute radiation sickness (ARS) from high-level doses within a common framework useful for the military commander. This article proposes such a method. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency and its predecessor agencies pioneered the quantitative description of the impact of ARS on human performance capability and military unit effectiveness. One product of these efforts is the Radiation-Induced Performance Decrement (RIPD) software. RIPD software includes physiologically based models of ARS valid for both chronic and one-time radiation exposure. One key element of placing ARS and low-level radiation effects in a common framework is finding independent and dependent variables that have a common meaning for both. This paper examines the use of cumulative probability of effect vs. dose and time after exposure for establishing a common framework. The physiologically based models of upper gastrointestinal distress and fatigability and weakness from the RIPD software support this approach.