7. Conclusion

Ongoing analysis of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki cohorts has produced the bulk of knowledge in the field of acute, high-dose exposure. These studies, combined with other work carried out on human exposure to ionizing radiation, confirm the knowledge acquired from experiments carried out in vitro or on animals. They show that the health effects of exposure to ionizing radiation are immediate deterministic effects, occurring at exposures above a threshold dose, and late cancerous effects, the frequency of which increases with the dose delivered.

This knowledge was used to build the radiation protection system. The relevance of this system for assessing the effects of internal contamination remains open to criticism, and numerous studies on these subjects have yet to be carried out. Among these studies, particular attention should be paid to the incidence of non-cancerous...