Twenty-one states are designated to provide scientists to serve as members of the committee which holds formal meetings (sessions) annually and submits a report to the General Assembly.

A small secretariat, located in Vienna and functionally linked to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), organizes the annual sessions and manages the preparation of documents for the committee's scrutiny.

These works are very highly regarded as sources of authoritative information and are used throughout the world as a scientific basis for the evaluation of radiation risk.

Reports from UN member states and other international organisations on data from survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Chernobyl disaster, accidental, occupational, and medical exposure to ionizing radiation.

The committee was originally based in the Secretariat Building in New York City but moved to the United Nations Office at Vienna in 1974.