Workshop on dosimetry for radon and radon daughters

Technical Report · Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6801273· OSTI ID:6801273

Turner, J E; Holoway, C F; Loebl, A S ^[1]

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1. eds.

Emphasis is placed on the dosimetry for radon and daughters, rather than on monitoring and instrumentation. The objectives of the meeting were to exchange scientific information, to identify problem areas in radon-daughter dosimetry, and to make any observations or recommendations by the participants through issuance of this report. The discussion topics included the history of dosimetry for radon and daughters, human data, aerosols, deposition and movement in the respiratory tract, dose calculations, dose-to-working-level-month (WLM) conversion factors, animal experiments, and the development of regulations and remedial criteria for reducing population exposures to radon daughters. This report contains a summary of Workshop discussions plus individual statements contributed by several of the participants. The outstanding problem areas from the standpoint of dosimetry appear to involve the appropriate lung organ mass to be used (average lung-tissue dose vs. high-level local dose); recognition of the discrete, rather than continuous, structure of the mucus; lack of knowledge about lung clearance; the variability of dose with the degree of disequilibrium and the unattached fraction of radon daughters for a given WLM; and questions about the character of uranium mine atmospheres actually breathed in the older mines from which much of the epidemiological information originates. The development of criteria for taking remedial action to reduce exposures involves additional concerns of basing long-term risk assessment on short-term sampling and applying WLM data for miners to general populations.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6801273
• Report Number(s): ORNL-5348; TRN: 78-011927
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
MINERS
PERSONNEL DOSIMETRY
RADON
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
URANIUM ORES
MINES
ENVIRONMENT
HEALTH HAZARDS
INHALATION
INTERNAL IRRADIATION
LUNG CLEARANCE
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOACTIVE AEROSOLS
TISSUE DISTRIBUTION
AEROSOLS
CLEARANCE
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
DISTRIBUTION
DOSES
DOSIMETRY
ELEMENTS
EXCRETION
HAZARDS
INTAKE
IRRADIATION
ISOTOPES
NONMETALS
ORES
PERSONNEL
RARE GASES
SOLS
500300* - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
560161 - Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology- Man
054000 - Nuclear Fuels- Health & Safety