Impacts of revised dose coefficients for the inhalation of NORM-containing dusts encountered in the Western Australian Mining Industry.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of recent revisions to the dose coefficients published in ICRP-137 and ICRP-141 for members of theTh,U andU decay series on radiation doses received by Western Australian mine workers via the inhalation of insoluble dusts containing long-lived alpha particle emitting radionuclides.Whilst some dose coefficients for individual members of the decay series have decreased, the nett effect is that the sum of all dose coefficients in all three decay series have increased as a result of the revisions. The increase is inversely related to Activity Median Aerodynamic Diameter.