• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.71-76
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• 2020

This study measured radioactive surface contamination in general public restrooms in hospitals and in dedicated toilets for nuclear medicine. The measurement method was measured using Berthold (LB 124, Germany) at the entrance to the restroom, inside the restroom, around the restroom, in the urinal, and around the urinal. As a result of the use of the restroom, there was no dedicated place waiting for patients who received radioisotopes in one of the three hospitals. As a result of measuring the restroom for exclusive use of radioisotopes, all measurement sites in the radioiodine therapy room were the highest, and the results of measuring the public restrooms showed background level contamination at all hospitals except hospital B. However, it was measured as 8.073 Bq/㎠ and 6.426 Bq/㎠ in the urinals in the public restroom on the first floor of the B hospital. Therefore, it is recommended to explain the dangers of radiation exposure to patients and provide a place for patients to wait. In addition, a plan should be sought to prevent patients from receiving radioisotopes from using unnecessary movements and general public restrooms.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2005

[ $^{14}C$ ] and $^{3}H$ in the evaporator bottom (EB) discharged from the Nuclear power plant (NPP) were extracted simultaneously into a gaseous $^{14}CO_{2}$ and liquefied HTO by using the chemical oxidation, which is the method to oxidize samples completely using potassium persulfate and sulfuric acid. The extracted $^{14}C$ and $^{3}H$ were counted by the liquid scintillation counter (LSC) after the quench correction. To examine the recovery of $^{14}C$ using the radioactive standards, $Na_{2}^{14}CO_{3}$, $^{14}C-alcohol$, and $^{14}C-toluene$ as $^{14}C$, and HTO as $^{3}H$ were used. Also, the most suitable method for oxidizing $^{14}C-toluene$, which is difficult to be oxidized, was investigated through FT-IR spectra according to the concentration of sulfuric acid. With the identical method, $^{14}C$ and $^{3}H$ in the EB generated in the NPP were assayed in the range of $8.35{\sim}l.38{\times}10^3$ Bq/g and $2.46{\times}10^2{\sim}1.40{\times}10^4$ Bq/g, respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.44-48
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• 2012

Purpose : Arm motion can give rise to striking cold artifact on PET/CT. We investigated that evaluation of scatter-limit correction and correct the patient arm motion artifact in Discovery 600 PET/CT. Materials and Methods : To evaluate a radioactivity uptake (Bq/ml) and a standard uptake value (SUV), the scatter limit correction and scatter correction were compared using 1994 NEMA Phantom$^{TM}$ in Discovery 600 PET/CT (GE Healthcare, Mi, We). Arm motion phantom study was involved a central 20 cm diameter cylinder simulating the neck and 2 peripheral 10 cm diameter cylinders simulating arms. The positions of the arms were altered so as to introduce different amounts of misalignment. The evaluation of arm motion phantom study used the radioactivity uptake and SUV in scatter correction and scatter limit correction. Results : The statistical significance of radioactivity uptake and SUV did not show the differences in comparisons of the scatter limit correction and the scatter correction that not show (p<0.05). Radioactivity uptake of the scatter correction was up to 3.1 kBq/ml in the 0.04 kBq/ml. It was approximately 98.7% undervalued in the arm motion phantom study. However, Radioactivity uptake of the scatter limit correction was up to 3.0 kBq/ml in the 2.11 kBq/ml. It was approximately 30% undervalued in arm motion phantom study. SUV of the scatter correction was 1.05 to 0.006 and underestimated about 98%. However, an applying SUV of the scatter limit correction changed the value as 0.67 which is underestimated about 25%. Radioactivity uptake and SUV of the scatter limit correction was increased approximately 60%, or more than the scatter correction. Conclusion : It is considered that if the patient arm motion artifact was occurred the scatter limit correction will be applicable to give an accurate diagnosis.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.127-133
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• 2021

Background: Phosphogypsum is material produced as a byproduct in fertilizer industry and is generally used for building materials. This material may contain enhanced radium-226 (²²⁶Ra) activity concentration compared to its natural concentration that may lead to indoor radon accumulation. Therefore, an accurate measurement method is proposed in this study to determine ²²⁶Ra activity concentration in phosphogypsum sample, considering the potential radon leakage from the sample container. Materials and Methods: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) phosphogypsum reference material was used as a sample in this study. High-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma spectrometry was used to measure the activity concentration of the ²²⁶Ra decay products, i.e., ²¹⁴Bi and ²¹⁴Pb. Marinelli beakers sealed with three different sealing methods were used as sample containers. Due to the potential leakage of radon from the Marinelli beaker (MB), correction to the activity concentration resulted in gamma spectrometry is needed. Therefore, the leaked fraction of radon escaped from the sample container was calculated and added to the gamma spectrometry measured values. Results and Discussion: Total activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra was determined by summing up the activity concentration from gamma spectrometry measurement and calculated concentration from radon leakage correction method. The results obtained from ²¹⁴Bi peak were 723.4 ± 4.0 Bq·kg^-1 in MB1 and 719.2 ± 3.5 Bq·kg^-1 in MB2 that showed about 5% discrepancy compared to the certified activity. Besides, results obtained from ²¹⁴Pb peak were 741.9 ± 3.6 Bq·kg^-1 in MB1 and 740.1 ± 3.4 Bq·kg^-1 in MB2 that showed about 2% difference compared to the certified activity measurement of ²²⁶Ra concentration activity. Conclusion: The results show that radon leakage correction was calculated with insignificant discrepancy to the certified values and provided improvement to the gamma spectrometry. Therefore, measuring ²²⁶Ra activity concentration in TENORM (technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material) sample using radon leakage correction can be concluded as a convenient and accurate method that can be easily conducted with simple calculation.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.735-747
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• 2018

Radon radiation exposures in home have been posed as a potential cancer hazard. This research aims to present the basic data of the indoor radon concentration level by examining the radon exhalation rates of wood species. Radon exhalation rates from five commonly used wood species in Korean wood building construction were measured with Continuous Radon Monitor (CRM), Model 1028 (Sun Nuclear Co., USA) using the Closed Chamber Method (CCM). The mass exhalation rate was observed to vary from $0.00089Bq{\cdot}kg^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$ to $0.00181Bq{\cdot}kg^{-1}{\cdot}h^{-1}$, whereas the surface exhalation rate was observed to be $0.00677-0.01517Bq{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}h^{-1}$. The radon exhalation rate of Quercus accutissima Carruth (white oak) which has the highest density showed the highest figure among the five wood species, on the other hand, the rest of four species showed similar results which were similar to the radon exhalation rates of wood in the U.S.A. and Canada. The average of the concentration measured by the CCM represented well up to the second half-life period (7.7 days). Because result of these small quantities seems to indicate that radon exhalation from the tested wood species has almost negligible impact, the main culprit of the high indoor radon concentration is clearly derived from the background of surrounding wood house. Therefore, as a safety precaution, infrastructures made of wood materials should be designed with the consideration of influx of radon and built accordingly. Furthermore, it is highly desirable that wood will be needed to use for furniture and interior finishing material in indoor environment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.249-253
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• 2001

Neutron dose assessment in criticality accidents using Whole Body Counter (WBC) was proved to be an effective method as rapid neutron dose estimation at the JCO criticality accident in Tokai-mura. The 1.36MeV gamma-ray of $^{24}Na$ in a body can be detected easily by a germanium detector. The Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of $^{24}Na$ is approximately 50Bq for 10miniute measurement by the germanium-type whole body counter at JNC Tokai Works. Neutron energy spectra at the typical shielding conditions in criticality accidents were calculated and the conversion factor, whole body activity-to-organ mass weighted neutron absorbed dose, corresponding to each condition were determined. The conversion factor for uncollied fission spectrum is 7.7 $[(Bq^{24}Na/g^{23}Na)/mGy]$.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2010

Purpose: The Xpress3.$cardiac^{TM}$ which is a kind of wide beam reconstruction (WBR) method developed by UltraSPECT (Haifa, Israel) enables the acquisition of at quarter time while maintaining image quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of WBR method for decreasing scan times and to compare to it with filtered back projection (FBP), which is the method routinely used. Materials and Methods: Phantom and clinical studies were performed. The anthropomorphic torso phantom was made on an equality with counts from patient's body. The Tl-201 concentrations in the compartments were 74 kBq (2 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in myocardium, 11.1 kBq (0.3 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in soft tissue, and 2.59 kBq (0.07 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in lung. The non-gated Tl-201 myocardial perfusion SPECT data were acquired with the phantom. The former study was scanned for 50 seconds per frame with FBP method, and the latter study was acquired for 13 seconds per frame with WBR method. Using the Xeleris ver. 2.0551, full width at half maximum (FWHM) and average image contrast were compared. In clinical studies, we analyzed the 30 patients who were examined by Tl-201 gated myocardial perfusion SPECT in department of nuclear medicine at Asan Medical Center from January to April 2010. The patients were imaged at full time (50 second per frame) with FBP algorithm and again quarter-time (13 second per frame) with the WBR algorithm. Using the 4D MSPECT (4DM), Quantitative Perfusion SPECT (QPS), and Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) software, the summed stress score (SSS), summed rest score (SRS), summed difference score, end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV) and ejection fraction (EF) were analyzed for their correlations and statistical comparison by paired t-test. Results: As a result of the phantom study, the WBR method improved FWHM more than about 30% compared with FBP method (WBR data 5.47 mm, FBP data 7.07 mm). And the WBR method's average image contrast was also higher than FBP method's. However, in result of quantitative indices, SSS, SDS, SRS, EDV, ESV, EF, there were statistically significant differences from WBR and FBP(p<0.01). In the correlation of SSS, SDS, SRS, there were significant differences for WBR and FBP (0.18, 0.34, 0.08). But EDV, ESV, EF showed good correlation with WBR and FBP (0.88, 0.89, 0.71). Conclusion: From phantom study results, we confirmed that the WBR method reduces an acquisition time while improving an image quality compared with FBP method. However, we should consider significant differences in quantitative indices. And it needs to take an evaluation test to apply clinical study to find a cause of differences out between phantom and clinical results.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2009

An analytical method of $^{99}Tc$ concentration in soil was set up and discussed considering the $^{99}Tc$ concentration in Korean soil measured with its analytical method. A selective TEVA resin was used to separate and purify the $^{99}Tc$ in the soil sample. $^{99m}Tc$ from a commercial $^{99}Mo/^{99m}Tc$ generator was used as a yield tracer for the chemical separation of $^{99}Tc$ and its problem when using $^{99m}Tc$ as a tracer was discussed. The chemical recovery yield of $^{99}Tc$ was above 70%. The optimum conditions of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry system(ICP-MS) were set up to determine the $^{99}Tc$ after the separation process. The minimum detectable activity(MDA) was 15 mBq/kg-dry in this analytical procedure. The $^{99}Tc$ concentration in soils of Jeju and Kori were measured in the rage of 33.73-89.16 mBq/kg-dry. Those values were less than those reported in other countries and seemed to be originated from atmospheric fallout.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.117-123
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• 2010

Plutonium is by far the most important of the transuranic elements which have been released into the environment due to radio-toxicity and long term radiation effects on humans. And Pu isotope ratio ($^{240}Pu/^{239}Pu$) is of great interest because this ratio is used as a fingerprint for different sources. Mass spectrometry has been used as an useful atom counting technique with several advantages over decay counting techniques for the determination of Pu isotopes. It enables a determination of Pu isotope ratio in the environmental samples with a low detection limit and a short determination time. An ICP-MS is the representative mass spectrometry for Pu determination. In this study, the precision of $^{240}Pu/^{239}Pu$ isotope ratio was improved by using 4 multiple ion counters of MC-ICP-MS. The detection limit of $^{239}Pu$ and $^{240}Pu$ were $0.10\;fg\;ml^{-1}$ ($0.24\;{\mu}Bq\;ml^{-1}$), $0.12\;fg\;ml^{-1}$ ($0.97\;{\mu}Bq\;ml^{-1}$), respectively. The relative standard deviation of $^{240}Pu/^{239}Pu$ isotope ratio was less than 1 % in trace level. The various reference materials (seawater, soil and sediment) were analyzed to verify this method and their analytical results were in good agreement with the certified (or recommended value) value.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.20-25
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• 2022

In this study, the applicability of microalgae was evaluated for eco-friendly decontamination of cesium-137 (Cs-137) and strontium-90 (Sr-90), which are radioactive nuclides contained in radioactive waste. The monolithic radioactive solution used in the experiment was manufactured at a concentration of 1.5 Bq/mL Cs-137 and 1.0 Bq/mL Sr-90 by diluting a standard radioactive solution and distilled water. This experiment used two types of microalgae, Chlorella Vulgaris was used for Sr-90 decontamination and Hematococcus pluvialis for Cs-137 decontamination. The experimental method is to put the microalgae cultured for 2 weeks into a bottle with a semi-permeable membrane, and then put the bottle in which the microalgae was put into the manufactured radioactive solution, so that the microalgae and the radioactive solution react through the semi-permeable membrane for 48 hours. For the radioactivity concentration analysis of each sample, a gamma-ray nuclide analyzer was used for Cs-137, a γ-ray isotope, and a Liquid Scintillation Count(LSC) was used f or Sr-90, a β-ray isotope. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that about 88.0 % of Cs-137 and about 89.7 % of Sr-90 could be decontaminated, and about 98.6 % of Sr-90 was finally able to be decontaminated by the two-stage decontamination method.