Work

Dose reconstruction for an occupational cohort at the Savannah River nuclear facility: evaluation of a hybrid method

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: The Savannah River Site (SRS) is the only nuclear facility in the United States that produces tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The purpose of the study was to derive annual tritium dose estimates for SRS employees through the development of a job-exposure matrix. The proposed method is unique in that along with qualitative information on job, area and time of employment, it utilises recorded annual whole-body dose measures, when available, in order to estimate doses from tritium intakes of the monitored workers. Using information from 75 253 dose measures for the period 1954-1978, the average proportion of the whole-body dose that was due to tritium intake was calculated; these proportions were allowed to vary by job, area and time period. This information was used to assign tritium dose levels for 43 590 employment-years. The collective estimated tritium dose was 4319 mSv compared with the total known tritium dose of 17 382 mSv. The correlation (R2) of estimated tritium dose with known tritium dose was 0.68.

Source: Radiation Protection Dosimetry

DOI: 10.1093/rpd/ncn165

Authors: G. Hamra, L. A. Nylander-French, D. Richardson

Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Language: English

Topic: Radioactivity and Radon Measurements

Subfield: Radiological and Ultrasound Technology

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Oak Ridge Associated Universities, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health