• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.725-733
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• 2023

The Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences has started a radiation epidemiological study, titled "Korean Radiation Worker Study," to evaluate the health effects of occupational exposure to radiation. As a part of this study, we investigated the methodologies and results of reconstructing organ-specific absorbed doses based on personal dose equivalent, H_p(10), reported from 1984 to 2019 for 20,605 Korean radiation workers. For the organ dose reconstruction, representative exposure scenarios (i.e., radiation energy and exposure geometry) were first determined according to occupational groups, and dose coefficients for converting H_p(10) to organ absorbed doses were then appropriately taken based on the exposure scenarios. Individual annual doses and individual cumulative doses were reconstructed for 27 organs, and the highest values were observed in the thyroid doses (on average 0.77 mGy/y and 10.47 mGy, respectively). Mean values of individual cumulative absorbed doses for the red bone marrow, colon, and lungs were 7.83, 8.78, and 8.43 mSv, respectively. Most of the organ doses were maximum for industrial radiographers, followed by nuclear power plant workers, medical workers, and other facility workers. The organ dose database established in this study will be utilized for organ-specific risk estimation in the Korean Radiation Worker Study.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1295-1300
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• 2022

There has been increased interest in researching risk perception of radiation to implement successful risk communication, particularly given the recent worldwide nuclear policy movement regarding nuclear energy. This study aimed to investigate characteristics of risk perception among residents living near normally operating nuclear power plants in South Korea by identifying factors associated with risk perception. A survey was conducted with face-to-face interviews for 1200 residents aged 20e84 years by gender- and age-stratified random sampling. Risk perception was associated with trust perception in nuclear safety, but was not highly correlated with benefit perception for utilizing nuclear power. Relatively high risk perception was observed in women, older age groups, and residents not having experience of nuclear-related education or work. This association remained after adjusting for other factors including benefit perception, trust perception, and psychological distress. In addition to these individual characteristics, risk perception was also associated with a residential district's own unique context, indicating that a strategy of risk communication should be developed differently for residents facing nuclear-related circumstances. Given that risk perception can be changed, depending on social values such as safety culture and economic setting, further studies are required to understand the changing characteristics of radiation risk perception.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2024

In Publication No. 66 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, an activity median aerodynamic diameter (AMAD) of 5 ㎛ is considered in internal exposure dose assessment owing to inhalation of radionuclides in a workplace. However, analysis of aerosols generated during dismantling experiments, such as in the oxy-cutting of a reactor vessel conducted in Korea, revealed that the radioactive aerosols have AMAD ranging from 0.024 to 0.064 ㎛. Such extremely fine aerosols can induce internal exposure if inhaled. In particular, alpha radionuclides in aerosols can lead to significantly higher levels of radiation exposure than beta and gamma radionuclides, thus highlighting the need to establish appropriate internal exposure radiation protection programs and monitoring systems that specifically address alpha radionuclides when decommissioning nuclear power plants in Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.164-171
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• 2021

The europium sorption on Tamusu clay was investigated by batch sorption experiments and spectroscopic study under the condition of strong ionic strength. The results demonstrated that europium sorption on Tamusu clay increased rapidly with pH value, but decreased with the ionic strength of solution increased. The europium sorption also increased in the presence of humic acid, especially at low pH value. The sorption could be fitted by Freundlich isotherm model and the europium sorption on clay was spontaneous and endothermic reaction. Besides, the result indicates that ion exchange was the main process at low pH value, while inner-sphere surface complexation dominated the sorption process at high pH value. The Backscatter electron scanning/Energy Dispersive Spectrometer(BSE/EDS) and the effect of Na for europium sorption results further suggested that europium sorption on Tamusu clay mainly competed with Na at low pH value. Overall, the results in this research were of significance to understand the sorption behavior of europium on the geological media under high ionic strength.

• 대한방사선방어학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.238-239
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.862-863
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• 2005

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) lowered the annual equivalent dose limit of lens of the eye for radiation workers from 150 to 20 mSv in April 2011. This trend of lowering the equivalent dose limit for radiation workers has been observed worldwide, including international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the European Commission (EC). In 2016, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission of South Korea published research results that included a proposal for lowering the equivalent dose limit of lens of the eye for radiation workers in line with the ICRP recommendation. However, as of now, South Korea's Nuclear Safety Act and related regulations still specify an annual equivalent dose limit of lens of the eye as 150 mSv for radiation workers. The IAEA and ISO have issued guidelines regarding radiation protection for lens of the eye and recommended a dose level for the lens of the eye at 5 or 6 mSv per year for periodic monitoring of the equivalent dose for the lens of the eye.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.7
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• pp.825-830
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• 2012

Radiation and its various industrial applications have been growing at approximately 10 percent per year for the past decade in Korea. As a result, the importance of the Education and Training (E&T) in radiation protection is of upmost importance. This paper is intended to investigate the present status of the E&T on radiation protection and safety in Korea and to draw up the improvements of the E&T courses required for building the national radiation safety infrastructure. For these purposes, the E&T data from the six major domestic organizations providing radiation protection training courses were investigated and analyzed. Each of the organizations is offering several kinds of E&T courses based on their own specific functions. These organizations have administrative facilities equipped with the latest technology for E&T in radiation protection. The E&T courses mainly cover the training courses for radiation workers, radiological emergency staff, license applicants, license holders, and regulatory staff. In 2010, a total of 58 E&T courses were carried out across six organizations. The conclusions make a number of observations highlighting challenges such as: establishing a formal feedback mechanism, introducing more practical training sessions, developing training courses tailored to the job categories and target audiences, and designing education and training courses in radiation protection that comply with current obligations as well as future requirements.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.8
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• pp.2034-2041
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• 2019

Public acceptance has become the most critical question for sustainable development of nuclear energy in recent decades. Many researches concentrated on risk and benefit perception, which were deemed as the most influential factors of Public Acceptance of Nuclear Energy (PANE). But few researches focused on psychological factors including regulatory focus. Therefore, this paper aimed to explore the moderating effect of regulatory focus on PANE based on Regulatory Focus Theory in order to find ways to increase/decrease PANE. An Internet-based survey had been carried out in China nationwide. The results indicated that trust in government was positively related to PANE and this relationship was mediated by risk and benefit perception. In addition, the strength of the associations between risk and benefit perception and PANE were moderated by regulatory focus, consisting of prevention focus and promotion focus. Prevention focus strengthened the negative relationship between risk perception and PANE, while promotion focus weakened. Moreover, promotion focus weakened the positive relationship between benefit perception and PANE, but no significant moderating effect of prevention focus was founded on the relationship between benefit perception and PANE. Some policy implications were also proposed on the basis of above-mentioned findings.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.1807-1816
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• 2020

In this work, a Gaussian Process (Kriging) approach is proposed to provide efficient dose mapping for complex radiation fields using limited number of responses. Given a few response measurements (or simulation data points), the proposed approach can help the analyst in completing a map of the radiation dose field with a 95% confidence interval, efficiently. Two case studies are used to validate the proposed approach. The First case study is based on experimental dose measurements to build the dose map in a radiation field induced by a D-D neutron generator. The second, is a simulation case study where the proposed approach is used to mimic Monte Carlo dose predictions in the radiation field using a limited number of MCNP simulations. Given the low computational cost of constructing Gaussian Process (GP) models, results indicate that the GP model can reasonably map the dose in the radiation field given a limited number of data measurements. Both case studies are performed on the nuclear engineering radiation laboratories at the University of Sharjah.