Rationale for radiation protection

Suggestions are made for a more quantitative rationale for radiation protection. Thus, an approach is discussed in which external fields, or the response of suitable detectors exposed to the fields, are transformed into the time-dependent probabilities for specific biological effects in a given species. It is pointed out that detector and computer technologies are emerging which make such a system possible. We offer suggestions for biological experiments which will maximize the usefulness of radiation effects data both in implementing the subject rationale and in the understanding of biological effects.