Estimation of External Contamination and Exposure Rates Due to Fission Product Release
[1];
[2];
- Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Nuclear Engineering Dept.
- Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Easterly Scientific, Knoxville, TN (United States)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA (United States)
In the event of a radiological incident, the release of fission products into the surrounding environment and the ensuing external contamination present a challenge for triage assessment by emergency response personnel. Reference exposure rate and skin dose rate calibration data for emergency response personnel are currently lacking for cases where receptors are externally contaminated with fission products. Simulations were conducted to compute reference exposure rate coefficients and skin dose rate coefficients from photon-emitting fission products of radiological concern. To accomplish this task, simplified mathematical skin phantoms were created using surface area and height specifications from International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 89. Simulations were conducted using Monte Carlo radiation transport code using newborn, 1-y-old, 5-y-old, 10-y-old, 15-y-old, and adult phantoms for 22 photon-emitting radionuclides. Exposure rate coefficient data were employed in a case study simulating the radionuclide inventory for a 17 × 17 Westinghouse pressurized water reactor, following three burn-up cycles at 14,600 MWd per metric ton of uranium. The decay times following the final cycle represent the relative activity fractions over a period of 0.5-30 d. The resulting data can be used as calibration standards for triage efforts in emergency response protocols.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1819628
- Journal Information:
- Health Physics, Journal Name: Health Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 119; ISSN 0017-9078
- Publisher:
- Health Physics SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Comparison of monoenergetic photon organ dose rate coefficients for stylized and voxel phantoms submerged in air
The DOE Radiological Triage Program