COEFFICIENTS FOR ESTIMATING PRENATAL DOSE IN PREGNANT WORKERS FROM ACUTE INTAKES.

Inhalation and ingestion dose coefficients for the embryo and fetus from intakes of radionuclides by the mother are provided in the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 88 for intake of each of 74 radionuclides. To address the many other possible radionuclides to which workers may be exposed, effective dose coefficients were developed for the embryo/fetus for all additional radionuclides addressed in ICRP Publication 107 with half-life of 10 min or more. The general approach was to use the estimated dose to the mother's uterus during pregnancy as a scalable proxy for the dose to the embryo/fetus.

Compromise of Personal Protective Clothing from Liquid Exposure.

Introduction: Following critiques of multiple personal contamination events from entries into the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source Transfer Bay, it was considered that the most likely causes for contamination were personal protective clothing doffing errors or moisture (sweat) allowing contamination to wick through the protective clothing. Radiological protection staff looked more closely, however, at the specific area of the clothing where contamination was highest; under enhanced lighting and photochromic manipulation, there appeared to have been some type of moisture in the area. Recognizing the possibility that moisture may have allowed for migration of contamination through the clothing, further experiments were undertaken to determine under which conditions this transport might have occurred.

Absorbed Dose Rates in Tissue from Prompt Gamma Emissions from Near-thermal Neutron Absorption.

Prompt gamma emission data from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Prompt Gamma-ray Neutron Activation Analysis database are analyzed to determine the absorbed dose rates in tissue to be expected when natural elements are exposed in a near-thermal neutron environment.

Worker inhalation dose coefficients for radionuclides not previously identified in ICRP publication 68.

While inhalation dose coefficients are provided for about 800 radionuclides in International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 68, many radionuclides of practical dosimetric interest for facilities such as high-energy proton accelerators are not specifically addressed, nor are organ-specific dose coefficients tabulated. The ICRP Publication 68 dosimetry concepts are used, along with updated radiological decay data and metabolic data, to calculate committed equivalent dose coefficients [h(T)(50)] and committed effective dose coefficients [e(50)] for radionuclides produced at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source.

Screening methods for estimating tritium dose.

Tritium intake may occur in certain workplaces by design or by accident. If the health physics staff has developed a formal bioassay program, then it is likely that dose estimates from tritium intake are readily determinable. However, in the case of tritium intake at a facility where no formal program exists, it may be necessary to make simple confirmatory estimates of dose due to tritium exposure.

Variations in backscatter observed in PMMA whole-body dosimetry slab phantoms.

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a useful material for dosimetry phantoms in many ways including approximate tissue equivalence, stability, accessibility and ease of use. However, recent studies indicate that PMMA may have some unanticipated variation in backscatter from one phantom to another. While the reasons behind the variations have not been identified, it has been demonstrated that the backscatter from one phantom to another may vary by as much as 15%, resulting in a dosemeter response variation of as much as 5%.