The Value Of A Societal Life Was Estimated By Examining Wrongful Death Awards

The present paper summarizes work performed under contract to the Department of Energy and reported separately. This paper covers efforts to define a cost per person-Sv by determining a value for a societal life and coupling the result with the probability of death due to radiation exposure. The value of a societal life was estimated by examining the average wrongful death award claims and settlements, amounts taken out in life insurance, amounts spent in the last year of life for the critically ill, lifetime earnings and investments, and other approaches and values found in related literature. The values of a societal life ranged from $600,000 to $7,000,000, with a value of $4,000,000 considered by the authors as a conservative average in terms of 1990 U.S. dollars. The associated costs per person-Sv thus determined were found to range from$18,000 per person-Sv to $630,000 per person-Sv ($180 per person-rem to $6,300 per person-rem), with a value of $200,000 per person-Sv ($2,000 per person-rem) taken as a conservative average. 68 refs., 15 tabs