Meeting the Needs of the Nation for Radiation Protection: Summary of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.

The 52nd Annual Meeting of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) was held in Bethesda, MD, 11-12 April 2016, on the topic of "Meeting National Needs for Radiation Protection." This meeting was an outgrowth of the NCRP initiative "Where are the Radiation Professionals?" (WARP), which addresses looming shortages in professional personnel trained in the radiological disciplines, including but not limited to health physics, radiological engineering, radiobiology, radiochemistry, radioecology, radiation emergency response; and the medical disciplines of diagnostic and interventional radiology, radiation oncology, nuclear medicine, and medical physics. A shortage of radiation professionals has been predicted for at least 20 y but now seems to be imminent. Obviously radiation professionals are needed for regulatory responsibilities at both state and federal levels, national defense, energy production, waste management, industrial applications, education, and medicine. Although the supply of radiation professionals in medicine appears to be adequate for the next decade or so, the use of radiation in medical diagnosis and therapy will continue to increase with the aging of the general population.