High radiation background areas

 

We are being continuously exposed to natural background radiation from sources such as Naturally Occurring Radioactive material (NORM) radionuclides present in the earth. This exposure is unavoidable. The radiation levels vary from place to place depending on the concentration of radionuclides present in our surrounding. Ramsar, Iran; Guarapari, Brazil; Yangjiang, China and coastal areas of Kerala are some examples of high radiation background areas.  The annual radiation doses received by the inhabitants in some locations exceed the annual doses recommended for occupational workers.

Ramsar, a city on the Caspian Sea in northern Iran, hosts the highest measured natural background radiation levels in the world. These high radiation levels in Ramsar are due to the deposition of Radium-226, one of the long- lived daughter products of Uranium-238 in local rocks. These rocks are also used in the construction of many local houses. The hot springs in the areas also contains higher levels of radioactivity. In India, the high background coastal areas are due to the monazite minerals which contain radioactive isotopes of thorium, and their decay products.  

In order to assess the public health from the exposure of inhabitants, extensive studies were carried out in such areas. The studies on the biological effects of prolonged exposure to higher levels of natural radiation in the inhabitants of Ramsar showed no harmful bio-effects.  

 

Nuclear Hydrogen for clean energy

 

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe but producing it in pure form for industrial processes – ranging from producing synthetic fuels and petrochemicals to manufacturing semiconductors and powering fuel cell electric vehicles – is energy intensive and currently with a significant carbon footprint.

To reduce the environmental impact of the world’s annual production of over 70 million tonnes of hydrogen, several countries are looking to nuclear power. A single 1 000-megawatt nuclear power reactor could produce more than 200 000 tonnes of hydrogen each year to fuel more than 400 000 fuel cell vehicles or more than 16 000 long haul fuel cell trucks,” Mikhail Chudakov, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Energy, said. Thus, nuclear hydrogen can be a game changer in the fight against climate change.  (IAEA News).

Extracts from the reference book: Radiological Protection and Safety - Preface

Radiation is ubiquitous. All humans are exposed to natural background radiation consisting of cosmic radiation, cosmogenic radionuclides and terrestrial radiation from the radioactive materials present in the earth. In addition to this, humans are also exposed to artificial or man-made radiation sources. In all, globally on an average, the annual radiation dose due to these sources works out to be around 2.4 mSv. The levels of natural radionuclides are enhanced significantly in situations where the materials are processed in industrial scale to obtain useful materials such as uranium, thorium, rare-earth elements, etc.   

This reference book entitled “Radiological Protection and Safety – A Practitioner’s Guide” is designed to guide persons involved or related to radiological protection, i.e., Health physicists (HPs), Radiological Safety Officers (RSOs) and Medial health physicists who, by and large serve as a link between the facility or installation management and the regulators, to ensure radiological protection and safety. This resource book is also useful to researchers, trainers, students, the radiological and nuclear facility operators, the regulators and personnel undergoing training in fields dealing with radiation and radioisotopes. Training of the personnel in radiological protection and safety forms the focus of radiation protection programmes and creates an awareness to remove inherent radiophobia or fear of radiation amongst educated and other members of the public. This is important in the current scenario of potential of nuclear terrorism world-wide. 

Occupational workers are those who are exposed to radiation during the course of their work.  The concepts of radiological protection, radiation protection standards, regulations as well as the exposure control techniques are changing over time. This reference book, organized in about 350 pages and in 19 chapters, covers radiological protection and safety aspects in life cycle of nuclear fuel cycle facilities. It also covers current status of the issues and topics of concern in the wide variety of applications of radiation and radioisotopes, particularly technological developments in medicine and industry. The occupational risk of harm needs to be acceptable in comparison with the risks in other industries which are considered as safe. 

Radiation protection is a multi-disciplinary subject. The ICRP system of radiological protection is applicable to all facilities and activities involving radiation sources or radioactive materials with potential for occupational exposures. In general, from a regulatory perspective, the nuclear fuel cycle operations, i.e., starting with mining of the natural uranium, milling, reactor fuel production, the fuel fabrication, nuclear reactor operation, the spent-fuel reprocessing and the radioactive waste management, are well covered and generally under the regulatory control of the government. However, the use of radiation and radioisotopes are being increasingly used in public domain in medicine and industry posing newer challenges. There are numerous techniques in medical diagnosis and therapy where patients are exposed to radiation for medical diagnosis and therapy. However, these techniques also occupationally expose the physicians, the radiologists, the paramedical staff, the technicians, the care takers and the public at large, to the radiation.

In addition to the peaceful uses of radiation, there is a threat of terror organizations using orphan, stolen or disused radiation sources to harm civilians and others by malicious use of the sources in many forms such as Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs). Nuclear and radiological emergency is considered important and is separately covered in the chapter on radiological safety in emergency exposure situations. The types of emergency situations, the preparedness and response are discussed in the book with latest references. Security of the radiation sources and radioactive materials is currently a concern, which is being addressed by international and national bodies. Relevant references are provided on the subject for the information of all concerned.

The UNSCEAR periodically provides comprehensive data on levels and effects of radiation exposures in different applications of radiation and radioisotopes. International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) reviews the inputs from various sources, including epidemiological studies on the exposure of groups of population and experimental findings and provides basic recommendations periodically. Recent Most recommendations are published in ICRP-103, 2007. 

Wherever possible, references are provided for the numbers used. As always happen in the health physics profession, informed judgements/thumb rules, based on decades of operational radiation protection experience have provided adequate level of safety required in the profession. As per the educationist David A. Kolb, learning is a process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.

In order to contain the size of the reference book to be “acceptable” for the readers, brevity has been an important consideration to include most of the topics of relevance to radiological protection and safety. References of radiological significance in the topics are provided at the end of each chapter, to be pursued by the reader for further details.

The reference book will be useful to all stakeholders in the nuclear industry who would like to refer to one book to know about all aspects of radiological safety in the application of radiation and radiation sources for the benefit of people. I dedicate this book to the radiation protection community, who work tirelessly to protect people and the environment from the harmful effects of radiation exposures. 

The updated document (ICRP-146, 2020) for mitigating radiological consequences of nuclear accident

There is an updated latest ICRP document entitled Radiological Protection of people and the environment in the event of a large nuclear accident published by the ICRP as the Publication No. 146 (2020). The document is the updated versions of ICRP – 109 and ICRP- 111, which cover emergency exposure situations. The new document draws experience of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents.

The early and intermediate phases of accidents are considered as Emergency exposure situations and the long-term phase is considered as existing exposure situations (ICRP-103). Mitigating the radiological consequences on the humans and the environment are achieved by the justification and optimization principles as discussed in the ICRP. A set of reference levels are recommended for protection of general population, and for the protection of all concerned in the mitigation process. The concerned authorities at national and local level, are responsible for implementing radiation monitoring and surveillance programs. The authorities also are responsible to involve all the stakeholders in the emergency preparedness process and management of the successive phases of the accident.  

Posts related with the PREFACE of the reference book Radiological Protection and safety (Sep. 2019)

Radiation is ubiquitous. All humans are exposed to natural background radiation consisting of cosmic radiation, cosmogenic radionuclides and radiation from the radioactive materials present in the earth. In addition to this, humans are also exposed to artificial or man-made radiation sources. In all, globally on an average, the annual radiation dose due to these sources works out to be around 2.4 mSv. The levels of natural radionuclides are enhanced significantly in situations where the materials are processed in industrial scale to obtain useful materials such as uranium, thorium, rare-earth elements, etc.

Radiological protection in nuclear medicine

 

In In nuclear medicine, “radiopharmaceutical” are used as source of ionizing radiation for medical diagnosis and therapy. Radiopharmaceuticals are biologically active molecules labeled by short-lived radionuclides. The actual mass of radioactive material in any radiopharmaceutical is too trivial to cause any toxic effect. The radiopharmaceuticals are administered into the human body. The image of the radionuclide distribution within the body/organ of interest as a function of time is studied. Radiopharmaceuticals are increasingly used for the treatment of various cancers with novel radionuclides, compounds, tracer molecules, and administration techniques.

Before such procedures involving radionuclides are performed, the physician is able to quantify the radiation dose delivered by the radionuclide to the tumour and the normal tissues. It is essential that the doses are optimized for the patient protection. Considerations need to be given to minimize the staff exposures through proper equipment design, adequate shielding and handling of sources, use of personal protective equipment, etc. Medical physicists/RSO provide specific radiological protection guidance to patients and carers.

 A recent ICRP publication (ICRP-140, 2019) provides all aspects of radiological protection in therapy with radiopharmaceuticals

 

Book Review (http://notionpress.com/read/radiological-protection-and-safety)

 

The review of the reference book Radiological Protection and Safety – A Practitioner’s Guide is published in the quarterly journal Radiation Protection and Environment (RPE), Vol. 42(3)/2019/119-121. The journal is being published by the Indian Association for Radiation Protection (IARP). Readers are requested to go through the review for more information about the book using the link: 

https://www.rpe.org.in/text.asp?2019/42/3/119/270444

 Dr. D.D. Rao, the Editor of the journal concludes: “In my view, author has put in all his professional experience spanning over four decades in preparing this reference book, particularly in chapters 6-10, and chapters 14-16. I sincerely hope that professionals, students, teachers and researchers, or whosoever refer this book, will get immensely benefited from the contents of this reference book”.

 

Protection against Radon

Radon-222 being gaseous inert radionuclides, inhalation of the radon gas is not as hazardous as its short-lived, alpha emitting daughter products, with different half-lives. While inhaled radon gas is exhaled out, inhaled particulate radon daughters get deposited in the respiratory tract and continue to give dose to the lung tissues until they fully decay. In the meantime, some amount of the deposited daughter products, being highly soluble in body fluids (like blood) and get transported to different organs/tissues and finally get excreted through urine. Hence, the inhalation dose (internal dose) received by the lung and other organs is much higher in case of inhalation of radon daughters than the radon gas alone.

In uranium mines, inhalation of radon daughter is a major health hazard. There is a relation between the exposure to radon daughters and the lung cancer incidents amongst the mine workers. Protection standards are developed based on the exposure data.

The main strategy to protect the workers is to use proper respiratory protection to filter out the daughter products; provide adequate once-through ventilation in the work areas to dilute and disperse the radon and radon daughter activity, and monitor the activity levels in the air continuously.

The protection standards for radon, thoron and their daughter products are discussed in more detail in an Editorial by Dr. Pushparaja: Radon in dwellings and workplaces: An update on current regulations, Radiation Protection and Environment Journal, Vol. 42 (1&2), 2019, p. 1-4.

www.radsafetyinfo.com is updated!

Use of radiation and radiation sources in public domain is exponentially on the rise from medical and industrial applications. Security of the radiation sources is important since any lost, stolen and misplaced radiation source, or source in the hands of miscreants can create an emergency-like situation. It is the responsibility of one and all of us to be aware of the consequences, and means to protect ourselves, our near and dear ones, and protect others.  

However, there is not adequate awareness about the radiation utilization, and radiation protection and safety amongst the public in general, and people who take the benefits from the applications. Radiation protection is not taught in colleges. In order to create a general awareness amongst the people, a website is created and recently updated. The free website is: www.radsafetyinfo.com

 

Request everyone to go through the site, and give comments if any. They may also spread this information to create the awareness about radiation and its benefits. 

Ignorant members of public - About ionizing radiation

Let us frankly expose the TRUTH – Common man (person) including illiterate, semi-illiterate, and so-called literate or educated, hardly know anything about ionizing radiation. They only know that radiation is very harmful, so many thousands have died in the explosions of atom bombs in Japan; exposed person will lose hair and become impotent, etc etc. How we are going to explain all the benefits we talking about to such a large percentage, may be more than 90% of the population who are lacking an understanding of elementary radiation physics, mathematics, biology and medicine?

Communication is the key. All the practitioners of applications of radiation and radiological protection should focus on ways and means to create awareness amongst the people about radiation, benefits of low level exposures, medical uses in health-care and food preservation, some health effects at high levels of exposures, and how safely the radioactive waste is managed by concerned experts. We should use mass media communication systems and school/college syllabus to maximum possible extent. Desist from use of words, like probability, ALARA and risk analysis when communicating with members of the public.

Radiological protection in medicine

Use of radiation in medicine has been increasing around the world in the recent past for diagnosis and therapy. The fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures are minimally invasive and used as an alternative to conventional surgery, resulting in reduced patient morbidity and mortality.

Radiation doses to patients from fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures may be high enough to cause skin injuries and increased probability of developing cancer in future years. There is also a risk to staff members of deterministic effects such as cataract formation. Optimization of the patient dose is important.

Although many fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures are conducted in radiology departments, they are increasingly performed by non-radiologists in other areas of the hospital, such as hybrid operating rooms. It is important to ensure that adequate radiation protection training and support services like radiation monitoring are provided to staff members involved in fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures. Radiological protection of the staff members need to be an important consideration while developing new interventional procedures.   

Radioisotope Generator

Radionuclide generator can supply a medical radionuclide in very high specific activity, often a very important concern in modern radiopharmaceutical formulation. It can also be designed to supply the radionuclide in a chemical form that is practically useful in the pharmacy or clinic.

Radionuclide generators have played a major role in the diagnostic nuclear medicine. Various radionuclide generators are in clinical use, particularly, Mo-99/Tc-99m generator. The major part of the radioactive generated in a nuclear medicine laboratory is of Tc-99m, followed by and Ge-68/Ga-68. An account of the available for clinical use and the regulatory challenges are discussed in an article by Knapp, Jr., and Pillai, et al, 2014). In nuclear medicine procedures, target-specific radiopharmaceutical is introduced to the body, the emissions from the radionuclides are detected and transformed into images which can be seen by the expert doctors to facilitate diagnosis. Radionuclides such as Tc-99m, I-131, I-125, P-32, Lu-177, F-18 are produced and used in the medical applications. Radiological protection of the staff is controlled and kept as low as reasonably achievable. Patient dose is optimised for protection of the patient.

Some terms explained - radiological protection

As per the ICRP (2007), the threshold dose is defined as the “estimated dose for incidence (EDI) of a specific observable effect in 1% of individuals exposed to radiation”. Tolerance dose is used to denote the maximum amount of radiation a tissue can withstand without developing clinical signs of injury in more than a few percents of individuals. “Clinically significant” term is used to denote the level of severity which is detectable and is associated with noticeable symptoms or sign of impairment of function.

“Cell death” term is used to denote the loss of the cell’s reproductive integrity, without necessarily losing other cell functions. “Cell survival” can be defined as the ability of a cell to proliferate indefinitely to form a colony of its daughter cells.

Humans can tolerate a higher total dose of chronic, low-dose-rate irradiation than an acute single dose. Chronic exposure provides enough time to repair a sub-lethal injury to the cell. Injury to the cell is repaired by the inherent repair mechanism in the body. In addition to this, there are “adaptive reactions” at the cellular, organ, and whole-body level. That is the reason why under chronic exposure situations, a higher total dose is required to develop clinical signs of cell injury as compared to the acute single dose.

It is desirable that the dose limit (100 mSv in 5 years) for occupational exposures is permitted under chronic exposure conditions.  

Probably, the first Code of Practice for Protection of X-ray Operators - 1915

Probably, the first code of practice, a set of 7 radiation protection rules, was issued by British Roentgen Society in November 1915 (The image is reproduced in Bull. of Radiation Protection, Vol. 18 (4), 1995, p. 23).

Recommendations for the Protection of X-ray Operators

The harmful effects produced by X-rays are cumulative and do not generally appear until some weeks or months after the damage has been done. It is to be noted that X-rays of any degree of hardness are capable of producing ill effects, although it is commonly supposed that soft X-rays only are harmful.

It is undesirable that any X-ray treatment should be carried out except under the direction of a qualified medical practitioner experienced in X-ray work.

All X-ray tubes must be provided, when in use, with a protecting shield or cover which prevents the access of the rays to the operators and which encloses the tube, leaving an adjustable opening only sufficiently large to allow the passage of a sheaf of rays of the size necessary for the work in hand. Even with this shielding, the operator may not be completely protected in all cases (e.g., especially in screen work), and the use of movable screens, gloves and aprons is recommended.

Operators should be warned that shields obtainable commercially are often ineffective and test of their opacity should be made.

Whenever possible the cubicle system should be used for X-ray treatment and the operator should be able to make all adjustments from a protected space.

When screen examination is required it is essential that the screen should be covered with thick lead glass of proved opacity and that the screen should be independently supported and not held in the hands of the operator. If the hands are so used they should be properly protected.

The hand or any portion of the body of the operator should never be used to test the hardness or quality of the X-ray tube; any simple form of penetrometer can be easily arranged for this purpose. #radiation #X-rays #radiationsafety #radiology #regulation #healthphysicist #radiologicalprotection

MOBILE PHONES AND HEALTH CONCERNS

ABSTRACT:  As Mobile /Cellular phone ownership grows throughout the developed as well as the developing world, concerns about the health risks due to radiofrequency emissions from the mobile phone base stations and due to usage of mobile handsets are slowly growing. This article has a look at the concepts used in the mobile phone technology, the power outputs from base stations and mobile handsets, the quantities Specific Energy Absorption Rate (SAR) and power density as a means to assess the effects on biological tissue. The precautionary approach to managing the health risks from mobile phones by specifying exposure guidelines is explored. Having surveyed the relevant epidemiological surveys and finding them inconclusive, NRPB, United Kingdom’s national regulatory body has issued exposure guidelines based on the potential of RF radiation to cause illness or injury through the heating of body tissues. USA’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) limits are also listed for comparison. For details see:

MOBILE PHONES AND HEALTH CONCERNS

Shreenivas Vaikuntam and Pushparaja
Radiation protection and Environment
Vol. 26 (3&4), 2003, p. 581-589

Exclusion and exemption criteria for different exposure situations

ICRP in its Publication No. 104 (2007) provide guidance to national regulatory authorities on the scope of radiological protection using the principles of justification and optimization. Advice is provided for deciding the radiation exposure situations that need to be covered by the relevant regulations because their regulatory control can be justified. There are some situations where regulatory control is unjustified and need to be excluded because the exposures are unamenable to control. In some regulated practices, the regulatory control is unwarranted, and exemption from the regulations is found to be the optimum option,

The ICRP documents describe the exclusion and exemption criteria for planned exposure situations and the application of the criteria in emergency and existing exposure situations with some specific examples. The quantitative criteria need to be treated as generic values to the consideration by the national regulatory authorities for defining the scope of the control measures.

New Reference book on: Radiological Protection and Safety – A Practitioner’s Guide

Radiological protection and safety is the prime concern in all the radiation-related applications, i.e., nuclear power, nuclear fuel cycle operations, use in medicine for medical diagnosis and therapy and use in industry and research. The reference book: Radiological Protection and Safety – A Practitioner’s Guide is written by a well-experienced practitioner, Dr. Pushparaja, to introduce readers to all the relevant aspects of radiation, the effects, the applications, protection standards, transport of sources, control of occupational exposures, regulations and about the practice of radiological protection and safety.

There are specially trained and well-experienced team of professionals with this special knowledge of radiation protection and the safety who work tirelessly for protecting people who handle radiation and radioisotopes. There is also a need for protection of the environment. These experts practice radiation protection as a profession.

The methodology employed to ensure, the techniques and radiological protection of the occupational workers, the members of the public and the environment while utilizing the radiation sources in beneficial applications are presented in this reference book. Application details, exposures and exposure control measures, security, and transport of sources, management of radioactive waste and rules and regulations to be followed are discussed.

People, in general, are not aware of what and how these highly trained professionals do, to ensure protection. It is important that the reference book create awareness amongst educated and not so well educated about peaceful uses of atomic energy and radiological protection and safety.

The knowledge is a highly dispersed form, some organizations recommend protection standards, some provide guidance documents, some publish operating experience of the radiation sources in specific fields. National/international conferences are held to share the experience with facility operators, regulators, and people who have the responsibility of radiation protection. These details need to be communicated to the concerned people in a simple way. Communication is the key.

There is a gap in the knowledge. The idea of writing this guide is to put everything important in one place and let the people refer to the book for the latest information and updates in the field of their interest.

Order for the book from online Link: http://notionpress.com/read/radiological-protection-and-safety 

Discount coupon code: GOODDEAL45

The usefulness of LNT approach

There is controversy over the use of (Linear No-Threshold (LNT) hypothesis to estimate the stochastic risk of exposure to ionizing radiation. The approach is not universally accepted. However, the usefulness of the LNT approach for radiological protection is very significant. The concepts used in radiation protection are strongly based on the LNT hypothesis. For example, LNT allows radiation doses: (i) to be averaged within an organ or tissue, (ii) to be added from different organs, and (iii) to be added over time.

The LNT also underpins the concepts of absorbed dose, effective dose, committed dose, and the use of dose coefficients used to estimate internal dose from the intake of radionuclides.  

Calibration of dosemeters and doserate meters

International Standard ISO 29661:2012 defines terms and fundamental concepts for the calibration of dosemeters and equipment used for the radiation protection dosimetry of external radiation, in particular for beta, neutron and photon radiation. It defines the measurement quantities for radiation protection dosemeters and doserate meters and gives recommendations for establishing these quantities. For individual monitoring, it covers whole body and extremity dosemeters (including those for the skin and the eye lens), and for area monitoring, portable and installed dosemeters.

Guidelines are given for the calibration of dosemeters and doserate meters used for individual and area monitoring, in reference radiation fields. Recommendations are made for the position of the reference point and the phantom to be used for personal dosemeters. ISO 29661:2012 also deals with the determination of the response as a function of radiation quality and angle of radiation incidence. ISO 29661:2012 is intended to be used by calibration laboratories and manufacturers.

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Basis for protection standard for uranium

Basis for protection standard for uranium

Uranium, a terrestrial radionuclide, is naturally present in the environment – in soil, rocks, in sea water, ground water, in food in the human body itself. The mass concentration of uranium varies from place to place depending on the environmental conditions. Natural uranium consists of three isotopes of uranium-²³⁸U, ²³⁵U and ²³⁴U with different half-lives. The longest-lived ²³⁸U has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Typically, the soil concentration is about 3 parts per million (ppm).

In addition to its radioactive nature, it is, as water soluble uranium compounds, is chemically toxic. Uranium gets deposited in the kidneys due to its physicochemical properties. The US EPA (2001) and WHO (2011) standard for uranium in drinking water is 30 micrograms per liter which is equivalent to 0.75 Bq/liter. The threshold limit value (TLV) (ACGIH, 1994) in air in work environment for insoluble uranium is 0.2 mg/m³.

The protection standards for uranium (soluble) is limited by the chemical toxicity, while for insoluble compounds, the protection standards are based on radiological considerations.