WASHINGTON, D.C., May 7, 2003 / -- The National Academies invites you to attend a one-hour public briefing for the release of its new report, Review of the Dose Reconstruction Program of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, at 11 a.m., Thursday, May 8, 2003, in the National Academies Lecture Room, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20418. This report is prepared by the National Research Council Committee to Review the Dose Reconstruction Program of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

The report examines the radiation dose reconstructions for military personnel who participated in various activities during atmospheric nuclear-weapons tests that took place in New Mexico, Nevada, and the Pacific from 1945 through 1962, and who were prisoners of war or stationed in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Japan, after the atomic bombings of 1945. Four key issues were addressed:

• Whether or not the reconstruction of the sample doses is accurate.
• Whether or not the reconstructed doses are accurately reported.
• Whether or not the assumptions made regarding radiation exposure based on the sampled doses are credible.
• Whether or not the data from nuclear tests used by DTRA as part of the reconstruction of the sampled doses are accurate.

The meeting will begin with a brief presentation on the report; the audience will then have an opportunity to question members of the committee. Participants will include: Study Chair Dr. John E. Till (President, Risk Assessment Corporation), Harold Beck (Retired Director, Environmental Measurements Laboratory), Clarice Weinberg (Chief of the Biostatistic Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences).

Those who cannot attend the public briefing are invited to participate by listening to a live audio webcast of the event and submitting questions using an e-mail form. Both the webcast link and the form will become available at the time of the event at http://national-academies.org/ and at BRER’s website, which is located at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/brer/DTRA_Home.html. In addition, the webcast will be archived at BRER’s website.

The webcast requires RealPlayer software, available
 free of charge at http://www.real.com/player/.