First Meeting on Ethics and / in Radiation Protection for German Speakers in Europe, Vienna, Austria

Following the discussions in ICRP (Task Group 94) and IRPA, numerous conferences and workshops on ethics in radiation protection were held in different parts of Europe. The Austrian Radiation Protection Association (ÖVS) is proud to have hosted a seminar on “Ethics and / in Radiation Protection” in Vienna on May 28th, for the first time for German speakers in their native language. The seminar was organized by members and associate members of the ÖVS executive council, including a member of the IRPA Executive Council, Mr. Hefner.

The Organizing Committee invited three well known and excellent speakers to cover the broad field of Ethics, in particular utilitarian and deontological ethics, as they were developed and summarized by the 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Prof. Dr. Friedo Zölzer of the University of South Bohemia in Ceské Budejovice provided a lecture on the "Ethical Basis of Radiation Protection".

Prof. Dr. Manfred Tschurlovits of the Technical University of Vienna talked about "Development and Evolution of Radiation Protection from an Ethical and Social Perspective".

Prof. DDr. Matthias Beck of the Theological Faculty of the University of Vienna lectured on "Ethics and Morality".

The final lecture was followed by a round table discussion; and the participants also were provided ample opportunity for discussion with the speakers during the coffee break and at the end of the afternoon session. The main areas for discussion concerned the lecture topics and questions common to the different fields of ethics and philosophy, as well as more specific questions with regards to radiation protection. Numerous questions also concerned the discussion on the ethical dimensions of radiation protection in ICRP and IRPA.

The seminar was well attended; more than 50 attendees joined the Austrian Radiation Protection Association executive council for the event, bearing witness to the great interest of the society members in this topic.