The growing use of nuclear power for electrical generating plants has re­sulted in both state and federal public health agencies’ increasing their program efforts in the surveillance of nuclear power plants and other nu­clear facilities. Health agencies must take such measures in order to carry out radiological health programs needed to assure the continued protec­tion of the public and to respond to public inquiries concerning possible radiological hazards associated with the operation of these facilities. Cur­rent state and operator surveillance programs for nuclear power plants are described in two reports (Brinck et al., 1968; Nuclear Facilities Branch, Division of Environmental Radiation, 1969).

The Environmental Health Service (ehs), as one of the principal health agencies within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, has the responsibility of providing assistance and guidance to state health agencies on matters pertaining to environmental health, including radio­logical health. It also conducts extensive research and development pro­grams in order to advance the level of scientific knowledge of the physi­cal, chemical, and biological aspects of the interaction between man and his environment, ehs comprises three operating bureaus and the National Air Pollution Control Administration.

The Bureau of Radiological Health has been established within the ehs as the focal point for radiological health activities within the Public Health Service. The Bureau’s Division of Environmental Radiation has been assigned the responsibility for the technical review and evaluation of the public health factors of all kinds of nuclear facilities; in addition, the Division provides technical assistance to state health departments respon­sible for assessing radiation levels in the environment. This technical re­

view procedure was initiated in 1961, based on an interagency agreement between the Atomic Energy Commission (aec) and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. This agreement established the mecha­nism whereby the aec’s Division of Reactor Licensing provides to the Di­vision of Environmental Radiation copies of the design safety analysis re­ports, and amendments thereto, submitted by the various applicants pro­posing to build and operate nuclear facilities. The Nuclear Facilities Branch within the Division of Environmental Radiation evaluates these reports from a public health viewpoint, and submits findings and recom­mendations to the state health agency responsible for the environmental health aspects of the plant. This evaluation procedure closely follows the aec licensing timetable throughout. Emphasis is placed on delineating the state health departments’ radiological health program requirements rela­tive to the facility and providing information and technical assistance to assist the departments in meeting their responsibilities. During the course of these evaluations, specific environmental problems may be identified that require field investigations in order to answer more fully questions significant to a radiological health program. These areas of study normally relate either to the concentration and distribution of radioactivity in the environment or to an evaluation of population exposure resulting from operation of nuclear power reactors.