• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• 제45권4호
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• pp.263-265
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• 2015

Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is routinely recommended for dental diagnosis and treatment planning. CBCT exposes patients to less radiation than does conventional CT. Still, lack of proper education among dentists and specialists is resulting in improper referral for CBCT. In addition, aiming to generate high-quality images, operators may increase the radiation dose, which can expose the patient to unnecessary risk. This letter advocates appropriate radiation dosing during CBCT to the benefit of both patients and dentists, and supports moving from the concept of "as low as reasonably achievable" (ALARA) to "as low as diagnostically acceptable" (ALADA).

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.117-126
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• 2007

Although the diagnostic information provided by radiographs may be of definite benefit to the patients, the radiographic examination does carry the potential for harm from exposure to ionizing radiation. Therefore we should try to expose radiation as low as reasonably achievable and to give diagnostic information to patients as much as possible. All of dentists should have competence in radiation protection. I wish to deal with what we should do for the optimization of radiation protection in dental clinic.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권1호
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• pp.351-356
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• 2021

Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs) have various radiation protection programs to attain radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA). In terms of ALARA, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of administrative dose control for occupationally-exposed workers in Korean NPPs. In addition to dose limits, administrative dose constraints are implemented to resolve an inequity of radiation exposure in which some individuals in NPPs receive relatively higher doses than others. Occupational dose constraints in Korean NPPs are presented in this paper with the background of how those values were determined. For pressurized water reactors, 80% and 90% of the annual average limit for an effective dose, 20 mSv/y, are set as the primary and secondary dose constraints, respectively. Pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) have also established the primary and secondary dose constraints corresponding to 70% and 80% of the effective dose limit, and additional constraints for tritium concentration are provided to control internal exposure in PHWRs. Follow-up measures for exceeding these administrative dose constraints are also introduced compared to exceeding the dose limits. Finally, analysis results of dose distributions show how the implementation of administrative dose constraints impacted the occupational dose distributions in Korean NPPs during the years 2009-2018.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4181-4190
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• 2023

Nuclear power plants are subjected to various processes during decommissioning, including cutting, decontamination, disposal, and treatment. The cutting of massive bio-shields is a significant step in the decommissioning process. Cutting is performed near the target structure, and during this process, workers are exposed to potential radioactive elements. However, studies considering worker exposure management during such cutting operations are limited. Furthermore, dismantling a nuclear power plant under certain circumstances may result in the unnecessary radiation exposure of workers and an increase in secondary waste generation. In this study, a cutting scenario was formulated considering the bio-shield as a representative structure. The specifications of a standard South Korean radioactive waste disposal drum were used as the basic conditions. Additionally, we explored the hot-to-cold and cold-to-hot methods, with and without the application of polishing during decontamination. For evaluating various scenarios, different cutting time points up to 30 years after permanent shutdown were considered, and cutting speeds of 1-10nullm²/h were applied to account for the variability and uncertainty attributable to the design output and specifications. The obtained results provide fundamental guidelines for establishing cutting methods suitable for large structures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.308-317
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• 1998

Ensuring occupational radiation exposure(ORE) as low as is reasonably achievable(ALARA) has been one of very important requirements in a nuclear power plant. It is well known that about 70 percent of occupational dose has incurred from maintenance jobs in the outage period. To reduce occupational dose effectively, the high-dose jobs in the outage period should be identified with their dose reduction potentials and methods. In this study, a PC-based ORE database program, INSTORE, is developed to evaluate ORE doses in individual jobs, and the ORE data of Kori Units 3 and 4 are assembled to the database. Based on customary job classification, radiation work is classified into 26 main jobs which comprise 61 detailed jobs, and occupational doses are assessed according to each detailed job. As a result, high-dose jobs are identified with dose reduction priority in terms of collective ORE dose. It is recommended that adeqaute dose reduction methods for these jobs should be prepared to improve their working conditions and procedures.

• 한국콘텐츠학회논문지
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• 제17권11호
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• pp.383-388
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• 2017

방사선구역내의 종사자 간 선량 비교 및 동일한 구역 내에서 임상실습에 임하는 학생들의 선량을 추가하여 비교함으로써 방사선방어의 최적화 구현에 대한 기초자료를 제공하고자 하였다. 연구 대상은 2016년 1월부터 동년 12월까지 C대학병원 방사선 관리구역에 재직 중인 방사선관계종사자 121명과 방사선작업종사자 36명, 그리고 8주간의 임상실습을 이수한 121명의 학생을 비교 대상으로 하였다. 방사선관계종사자와 작업종사자 간의 심부 및 표층 선량은 관계종사자가 각각 $.7440{\pm}1.676mSv$와 $.7753{\pm}1.730mSv$로 가장 높게 나타났으며, 통계적으로 매우 유의하였다(p<.01). 세 그룹 간에는 심부 선량의 경우 임상실습학생이 $.143{\pm}.136mSv$로 가장 높게 나타났고, 표층 선량에서도 $.1513{\pm}.139mSv$로 가장 높게 나타났으며, 작업종사자가 두 경우 모두 가장 낮았다. 그룹 간의 평균의 차이는 통계적으로 매우 유의하였다(p<.01). 결론적으로 ALARA(As Low As Reasonably Achievable)원칙에 의거 철저한 관리가 필요하며, 특히 방사선안전관리의 사각지대에 놓여 있는 임상실습 학생에 대한 체계적인 피폭선량 관리가 필요할 것으로 사료된다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.222-228
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• 2017

Background: On June 18, 2017, Korea's first commercial nuclear reactor, the Kori Nuclear Power Plant No. 1, was permanently suspended, and the capacity of nuclear power generation facilities will be adjusted according to the governments denuclearization policy. In these circumstances, it is necessary to assess the quality of radiation safety management in nuclear power plants in Korea by evaluating the radiation dose associated with them. Materials and Methods: The average annual radiation dose per unit, the annual radiation dose per person, and the annual dose distribution were analyzed using the radiation dose database of nuclear reactors for the last 5 years. The results of our analysis were compared to the specifications of the Nuclear Safety Act and Medical Law in Korea. Results and Discussion: The annual average per unit radiation dose of global major nuclear power generation was 720 man-mSv, while that of Korea's nuclear power plants was 374 manmSv. No workers exceeded 50 mSv per year or 100 mSv in 5 years. The individual radiation dose according to occupational exposure was 0.59 mSv for nuclear workers, 1.77 mSv for non-destructive workers, and 0.8 mSv for diagnostic radiologists. Conclusion: The radiation safety management of nuclear power plants in Korea has achieved the best outcomes worldwide, which is considered to be the result of the as-low-as-reasonably-achievable (ALARA) approach and strict radiation safety management. Moreover, the occupational exposures were also very low.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.127-135
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• 2003

The primary contributors to the total occupational radiation exposure in operating nuclear power plants are operation and maintenance activities doting refueling outages. The Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) includes a number of design improvements and plans to utilize advanced maintenance methods and robotics to minimize the annual collective dose. The major radiation exposure reduction features implemented in APR1400 are a permanent refueling pool seal, quick opening transfer tube blind flange, improved hydrogen peroxide injection at shutdown, improved permanent steam generator work platforms, and more effective temporary shielding. The estimated average annual occupational radiation exposure for APR1400 based on the reference plant experience and an engineering judgment is determined to be in the order of 0.4 man-Sv, which is well within the design goal of 1 man-Sv. The basis of this average annual occupational radiation exposure estimation is an eighteen (18) month fuel cycle with maintenance performed to steam generators and reactor coolant pumps during refueling outage. The outage duration is assumed to be 28 days. The outage work is to be performed on a 24 hour per day basis, seven (7) days a week with overlapping twelve (12) hour work shifts. The occupational radiation exposure for APR1400 is also determined by an alternate method which consists of estimating radiation exposures expected for the major activities during the refueling outage. The major outage activities that cause the majority of the total radiation exposure during refueling outage such as fuel handling, reactor coolant pump maintenance, steam generator inspection and maintenance, reactor vessel head area maintenance, decontamination, and ICI & instrumentation maintenance activities are evaluated at a task level. The calculated value using this method is in close agreement with the value of 0.4 man-Sv, that has been determined based on the experience aid engineering judgement. Therefore, with the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) advanced design features incorporated in the design, APR1400 design is to meet its design goal with sufficient margin, that is, more than a factor of two (2), if operated on art eighteen (18) month fuel cycle.

• 한국재난정보학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국재난정보학회 2015년 정기학술대회
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• pp.294-297
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• 2015

Decommissioning of nuclear facilities should be accomplished by assuring the safety of workers because decommissioning activities of nuclear facilities are under high radioactivity and work difficulty. It is necessary that before decommissioning, the radiation exposure dose of workers has to be evaluated and assessed under the principle of ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable). Furthermore, to improve the proficiency of decommissioning environments, method and system need to be developed. The legacy methods of exposure dose measurement and assessment had the limitations to modify and simulate the exposure dose to workers prior to practical activities because those should be accomplished without changes of working routes under predetermined scenarios. To simulate a lot of decommissioning scenarios, decommissioning environments were designed in virtual reality. To simulate and assess the exposure dose to workers, human model also was designed in virtual environments. These virtual decommissioning environments made it possible to real-time simulate and assess the exposure dose to workers. It can be concluded that this system is able to protect from accidents and enable workers to improve his familiarization about working environments. It is expected that this system can reduce human errors because workers are able to improve the proficiency of hazardous working environments due to virtual training like real decommissioning situations. In the end, the safety during decommissioning of nuclear facilities will be guaranteed under the principle of ALARA.

• 한국방사선학회논문지
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.191-199
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• 2023

본 연구는 높은 관전압과 낮은 관전류로 인한 복부 영상 노이즈 발생을 BSRGAN (Deep Bline Image Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial)기법으로 보정하고, 최소화된 방사선량을 가진 촬영 조건을 제시하는 것을 목표로 하였다. 먼저 각 촬영 조건에 따른 입사표면 선량(entrance surface doses, ESD)을 측정하였고, 해당 촬영 조건들의 복부 영상을 획득한 후 그 획득한 모든 복부 영상들은 BSRGAN 기법을 통해 재구성하였다. 영상 분석방법으로는 복부의 기준 촬영 조건인 80 kVp, 320 mA의 영상과 비교 분석하였고, 그 방법으로는 평균제곱오차(mean squared error, MSE), 최대 신호 대 잡음비(peak signal-to-noise ratio, PSNR), 그리고 구조적 유사도 지수 측정(structural similarity index measure, SSIM)을 사용하였다. 또한, BSRGAN 기법으로 재구성된 복부 영상효과를 검증하기 위해 절편 신호강도 분석은 실행되었다. MSE가 가장 낮은 조사조건은 90 kVp, 125 mA와 100 kVp, 100 mA (약 0.285)이었고, PSNR은 37.694와 SSIM은 0.999로 나타났다. 그 촬영 조건들은 ESD를 약 52 ~ 53%를 감소시켰다. 게다가, 최적화된 조건들의 신호 강도의 변화는 기준 복부 영상보다 오히려 감소하였다. 이 결과는 방사선량을 크게 줄임과 동시에 기준 복부 영상과 유사한 영상을 획득할 수 있음을 의미하며, 이는 방사선방호의 원리인 ALARA 개념을 충분히 반영할 수 있음을 시사한다.