• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 2017

Background: Phosphate rock and its by-product are widely used in various industries to produce phosphoric acid, gypsum, gypsum board, and fertilizer. Owing to its high level of natural radioactive nuclides (e.g., $^{238}U$ and $^{226}Ra$), the radiological safety of workers who work with phosphate rock should be systematically managed. In this study, $^{238}U$, $^{232}Th$, $^{226}Ra$, and $^{40}K$ levels were measured to analyze the transport characteristics of these radionuclides in the production cycle of phosphate rock. Materials and Methods: Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and gamma spectrometry were used to determine the activity of $^{238}U$, $^{232}Th$, $^{226}Ra$, and $^{40}K$. To evaluate the extent of secular disequilibrium, the analytical results were compared using statistical methods. Finally, the distribution of radioactivity across different stages of the phosphate rock production cycle was evaluated. Results and Discussion: The concentration ratios of $^{226}Ra$ and $^{238}U$ in phosphate rock were close to 1.0, while those found in gypsum and fertilizer were extremely different, reflecting disequilibrium after the chemical reaction process. The nuclide with the highest activity level in the production cycle of phosphate rock was $^{40}K$, and the median $^{40}K$ activity was $8.972Bq{\cdot}g^{-1}$ and $1.496Bq{\cdot}g^{-1}$, respectively. For the $^{238}U$ series, the activity of $^{238}U$ and $^{226}Ra$ was greatest in phosphate rock, and the distribution of activity values clearly showed the transport characteristics of the radionuclides, both for the byproducts of the decay sequences and for their final products. Conclusion: Although the activity of $^{40}K$ in k-related fertilizer was relatively high, it made a relatively low contribution to the total radiological effect. However, the activity levels of $^{226}Ra$ and $^{238}U$ in phosphate rock were found to be relatively high, near the upper end of the acceptable limits. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically manage the radiological safety of workers engaged in phosphate rock processing.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.633-638
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• 2017

The amount of radioactive waste has been rapidly increased with development of radiation treatment in medical field. Recently, it has been a common practice to use I-131 for thyroid cancer, F-18 for PET/CT and Tc-99m for diagnosis of nuclear medicine. All the wastes concerned have been disposed of by means of the self-disposal method, for example incineration, after storage enough to decay less than clearance level. IAEA proposed criteria for clearance level of waste which depends on the individual ($10{\mu}Sv/y$) and collective dose (1 man-Sv/y), and concentration of each nuclide (IAEA Safety Series No 111-P-1.1, 1992 and IAEA RS-G-1.7, 2004). In this study, specific radioactivity of radioactive waste contaminated with Re-186 was measured to confirm whether it meets the clearance level. Re-186 has long half life of 3.8 days relatively and emits beta and gamma radiation, therefore it can be applied in treatment and imaging purposes. The specific radioactivity of contaminated gloves weared by radiation workers was measured by MCA(Multi-channel Analyzer) which was calibrated by reference materials in accordance with the measuring procedure. As a result, comparison evaluation of decay storage period between the half-life which was calculated by attenuation curve based on real measurement and physical half-life was considered, and it is showed that the physical half-life is longer than induced half-life. Therefore, the storage period of radioactive waste for self-disposal may be curtailed in case of application of induced half-life. The result of this study will be proposed as ISO standard.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.218-227
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• 2006

Purpose: The HSV1-tk reporter gene system is the most widely used system because of its advantage that direct monitoring is possible without the introduction of a separate reporter gene in case of HSV1-tk suicide gene therapy. In this study, we investigate the usefulness of the reporter probe (substrate), $9-(4-[^{18}F]Fluoro-3-hydroxymethylbutyl)$guanine ($[^{18}F]FHBG$) for non-invasive reporter gene imaging using PET in HSV1-tk expressing hepatoma model. Materials and Methods: Radiolabeled FHBG was prepared in 8 steps from a commercially available triester. The labeling reaction was carried out by NCA nucleophilic substitution with $K[^{18}F]/K2.2.2.$ in acetonitrile using N2-monomethoxytrityl-9-14-(tosyl)-3-monomethoxytritylmethylbutyl]guanine as a precursor, followed by deprotection with 1 N HCl. Preliminary biological properties of the probe were evaluated with MCA cells and MCA-tk cells transduced with HSV1-tk reporter gene. In vitro uptake and release-out studies of $[^{18}F]FHBG$ were performed, and was analyzed correlation between $[^{18}F]FHBG$ uptake ratio according to increasing numeric count of MCA-tk cells and degree of gene expression. MicroPET scan image was obtained with MCA and MCA-tk tumor bearing Balb/c-nude mouse model. Results: $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was purified by reverse phase semi-HPLC system and collected at around 16-18 min. Radiothemical yield was about 20-25%) (corrected for decay), radiochemical purity was >95% and specific activity was around >55.5 $GBq/{\mu}\;mol$. Specific accumulation of $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was observed in HSV1-tk gene transduced MCA-tk cells but not in MCA cells, and consecutive 1 hour release-out results showed more than 86% of uptaked $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was retained inside of cells. The uptake of $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was showed a highly significant linear correlation ($R^2=0.995$) with increasing percentage of MCA-tk numeric cell count. In microPET scan images, remarkable difference of accumulation was observed for the two type of tumors. Conclusion: $[^{18}F]FHBG$ appears to be a useful as non-invasive PET imaging substrate in HSV1-tk expressing hepatoma model.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.19-31
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• 2013

To figure out the decay characteristics of naturally occurring radionuclides, eight sampled groundwaters from a monitoring borehole having high levels of uranium and radon concentrations in a two mica granitic area have analyzed by liquid scintillation counters (LSC) for over 1 year. In December 2011, three groundwater samples (DJ1, DJ2, DJ3) were obtained from each aquifer system located at -20 m, -40 m, -60 m of the monitoring borehole below the ground surface, respectively. Five samples (DJ4, DJ5, DJ6, DJ7, DJ8) were additionally gained from each aquifer positioned -20 m, -40 m, -60 m, -100 m, -105 m of the borehole in February 2012, respectively. Temporal variation characteristics of uranium and radon concentrations have showed over maximum 2.1 times and 1.4 times fluctuations of the values in the same sampling intervals over time, respectively. The intervals of -40 m and -105 m in the borehole have the highest values of uranium and radon concentrations, respectively. This may imply that the concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides such as uranium and radon in groundwater have been changed over time and indicate that the qualities of groundwaters from the aquifers developed at each interval in the borehole are different each other. This discrepancy, moreover, could be caused by behaviour differences between uranium which is in ionic status having a half life of 4.6 billion years and is transported along with the flowing groundwater, and radon which is in gaseous status having a 3.82 day's half life in the aquifer systems. Physicochemical characteristics of groundwaters from the aquifer systems could be identified by the results of the on-situ measuring items such as pH and Eh, and the major ionic contents. The CPM values of eight groundwater samples analysed by LSC over one year have shown not to follow the theoretical decay curve of the radon. The CPM values of the samples have ranged from 2 to 7.5 after it had passed two months when the theoretical CPM values of the radon started zero since the initial analysis. Alpha and beta particle spectrums have shown the peaks of radium-226, however they have not revealed any peaks of radon and it's daughter products such as polonium-218 and 214, bismuth-214 for the late stage of the analysis. This implies that the groundwater from the borehole may contain radium-226 having a half life of 1,600 years which decays continuously.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.953-960
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• 2022

The measurement of branching ratio of ¹⁶⁷Yb radioactive isotopes from gamma-ray spectrum of ¹⁶⁹Tm(p,3n)¹⁶⁷Yb reaction were performed by using a 100-MeV proton linear accelerator of the Korea Multi-purpose Accelerator Complex (KOMAC). The ¹⁶⁷Yb isotope has a half-life of 17.5 minutes and decays to ¹⁶⁹Tm. The gamma rays generated from the ¹⁶⁷Yb isotope were measured using an HPGe detector gamma ray spectroscopy system. The energy calibration of the detector and the efficiency measurement of the detector were determined using a standard source. The gamma rays of known main energy (62.9, 106.2, 113.3, 143.5 and 176.3 keV) were measured. On the other hand, information about the intensity of the generated gamma rays is very inaccurate. Therefore, in this study, the decay strength of the main gamma rays was accurately measured. Overall, it was different from the previously known results, and in particular, it was found that the intensity of the main decay gamma ray, such as the 113.3 and 106.2 keV gamma ray, was overestimated, and it was found that the gamma ray, such as 62.9, 116.7 and 143.5 keV was underestimated. The present results are considered to be important information in the fields of nuclear fusion, astrophysics and nuclear physics in the future.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.59-67
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• 2023

Background: This study aims to reevaluate natural radiation exposure, following up on our previous study conducted in 2019, and to assess the associated risk of lung cancer to the public residing in the gold mining areas of Betare-Oya, east Cameroon, and its vicinity. Materials and Methods: Gamma-ray spectra collected using a 7.62 cm×7.62 cm in NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer during a car-borne survey, in situ measurements and laboratory measurements performed in previous studies were used to determine the outdoor absorbed dose rate in air to evaluate the annual external dose inhaled by the public. For determining internal exposure, radon gas concentrations were measured and used to estimate the inhalation dose while considering the inhalation of radon and its decay products. Results and Discussion: The mean value of the laboratory-measured outdoor gamma dose rate was 47 nGy/hr, which agrees with our previous results (44 nGy/hr) recorded through direct measurements (in situ and car-borne survey). The resulting annual external dose (0.29±0.09 mSv/yr) obtained is similar to that of the previous study (0.33±0.03 mSv/yr). The total inhalation dose resulting from radon isotopes and their decay products ranged between 1.96 and 9.63 mSv/yr with an arithmetic mean of 3.95±1.65 mSv/yr. The resulting excess lung cancer risk was estimated; it ranged from 62 to 216 excess deaths per million persons per year (MPY), 81 to 243 excess deaths per MPY, or 135 excess deaths per MPY, based on whether risk factors reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, United Nations Scientific Committee on the effects of Atomic Radiation, or International Commission on Radiological Protection were used, respectively. These values are more than double the world average values reported by the same agencies. Conclusion: There is an elevated level of risk of lung cancer from indoor radon in locations close to the Betare-Oya gold mining region in east Cameroon. Therefore, educating the public on the harmful effects of radon exposure and considering some remedial actions for protection against radon and its progenies is necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.419-425
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to produce a shielding material to reduce a dose on the genital gland, one of the superficial organs, at a CT scan on the whole abdomen and hardly affect picture quality and examine its utility. This research made 22 mm silicone and 7.3 mm aluminum having the similar material quality and effect of previous bismuth. By using the non-shield, bismuth, 22 mm silicone, and 7.3 mm aluminum shielding materials, this author conducted a comparative experiment measuring the decay rate of the genital gland's exposure to radiation, change of the CT number and noise in the image, and the CT number, noise, and uniformity in the AAPM phantom. According to the results, exposure to radiation is reduced in bismuth as 29.96%, silicone 22 mm as 13.10%, and 7.3 mm aluminum as 18.27%. In bismuth, however, the image's CT number varies a lot, and uniformity is measured to be inappropriate in the AAPM phantom scan; therefore, it indicates great change in terms of picture quality in superficial organs like the genital gland. Concerning superficial organs like the genital gland, if 22 mm silicone and 7.3 mm aluminum are used as shielding materials, it will be helpful in reducing variation in picture quality and also decreasing radiation exposure to radiation.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 2023

In this study, we evaluated the targeting of prostate cancer (PCa) using [¹⁸F]Florastamin in non-clinical study, for the purpose of therapeutic monitoring of [¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep, a therapeutic radiopharmaceutical for PCa, [¹⁸F]Florastamin/[¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep was co-administered to a single-individual prostate tumor bearing mouse model, mimicking clinical condition. Considering the difference in half-life of the two isotopes (¹⁸F or ¹⁷⁷Lu), image scan of whole-body autoradiography was performed at 24 or 48 h after preparation of frozen section, respectively. Then, it was confirmed whether they showed the same targeting efficiency for the area of tumor. A tumor xenograft model was prepared using PSMA-overexpressing PC3-PIP prostate cancer cells. [¹⁸F]Florastamin [111 MBq (3 mCi) in 100 µL]/¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep [3.7 MBq (100 µCi) in 100 µL] was co-administered through the tail vein, and 2 hours after administration, the mice were frozen, and after freezing for 24 hours, whole-body cryosection was performed at 24 h after freezing. Image scanning using cryosection was performed after 24 or 48 hours after freezing, respectively. In the scan image after 24 hours, tumor uptake of [¹⁸F] Florastamin/[¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep were simultaneously observed specific uptake in the tumor. In the scan image after 48 hours in the same section, signal of ¹⁸F was lost by decay of radioisotope, and specific uptake image for [¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep was observed in the tumor. Uptake of [¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep was specific to the same tumor region where [¹⁸F]Florastamin/[¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep was uptake. These results suggested that [¹⁸F]Florastamin showed the same tumor uptake efficiency to PCa as [¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep, and effective therapeutic monitoring is expected to be enable using [¹⁸F]Florastamin during [¹⁷⁷Lu]Ludotadipep therapy for PCa.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.55-59
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• 2015

Research about the proton nuclear reaction is actively achieving on the proton therapy including material development of fusion reactor. The proton induced gamma ray energy(2754, 1386 keV) spectrum of 27Al(p,3p+n)24Na reaction was measured with 100 MeV high energy proton beam. The proton beam in the experiment was derived from 100 MeV proton linear accelerator in the KOMAC. We measured the gamma ray intensity ratio of the decay level from the energy spectrum. The previous results have been compared with the current result. Strength of measured gamma rays will provide very important information though decide high energy gamma radiation detection efficiency.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.600-604
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• 2011

In this paper, the scintillation properties of $LaCl_3:Eu^{2+}$ crystal were investigated as new scintillator. This scintillation material was grown by a Czochralski method. $LaCl_3:Eu^{2+}$ was determined to have a hexagonal $P_63$/m space group with cell parameters a = b = $7.48{\AA}$, c = $4.37{\AA}$. Under 335 nm UV excitation, the crystal shows a broad emission band between 370 nm and 640 nm wavelength range, peaking at 430 nm. At room temperature, the crystal exhibits one exponential decay time component. The component of scintillation time profile of the crystal emission decays with a $2.82{\pm}0.72{\mu}s$ time constant. The energy resolution of the crystal was measured to be 8.8% (FWHM) for $^{137}Cs$ 662 keV ${\gamma}$-rays.