In 1949, the maximum permissible dose for radiation was lowered to 0.3 roentgen per week. It was lowered again in 1957 to 5 rem/vr as the permissible dose for radiation workers. This standard is still in effect. The AEC has also played a significant role in setting radiation standards. However, the AEC's regulatory authority over materials was, and still is, limited by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, to source, by-product, and special nuclear material. Before the Federal Radiation Council (FRC) was formed, the AEC, when setting radiation standards, generally followed «losely the ‘recommendations of the NCRP, which in turn paralleled the ICRP recommendations. In 1959, after the advent of the atomic age had aroused public fears over fallout from nuclear weapons, the U. S. government, because of uncertainty of government influence over radiation protection standards, organized the FRC. It was authorized by Congress to "...advise the President with respect to radiation matters directly or indirectly affecting health, including guidance for all federal agencies in the formulation cf radiation standards and in establishment and execution of crearams in cooperation with the states..."¢ The final authority with respect to radiation standards rested not with the FRC but with the President. Such a subordinate agency as the AEC, for example, had to make its rules, e.g., those governing licensed reactors, compatible with the overall guides developed by the FRC. . Tnroughout the 1950's the ICRP and NCRP continued to yrevise and refine the basic recommendations concerning permissible radiation exposure standards. Standards were recommended for some non-occupational groups and for the whole population. Maximum permissible body burdens and maximum permissible concentrations of radionuclides in the air and in water were recommended as secondary standards. Most of these recommendations were incorporated by the FRC and the AEC. In 1970 the FRC was abolished and its duties were transferrel to the EPA. Since that time, the setting of population exposure standards has resided in EPA. Population standards, 2/ FRC Report No. 1, Backaround Material for the Development of Radiation Protection Standards, Government Printing Office, Washington, s RSre ° wn 7 t. va age aa D. C., May 13, : ‘ ae se . pref t we Oye 1960, -p. Me . . ae tre gay, wth AGA ‘wat ee foy : ; l. 7 eas at peters. ~ re *, AWw ws Tee = me . ~ 28 i: ca eine Sal “+ ' © mk. “. CPSs to “ .. ae ; ‘ “ . . .o ; f vo : 3 ¢ ef