• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2010

This paper describes the methodology of calculating the internal dose conversion coefficient in order to assess the radiological impact on non-human species. This paper also presents the internal dose conversion coefficients of 25 radionuclides ($^3H,\;^7Be,\;^{14}C,\;^{40}K,\;^{51}Cr,\;^{54}Mn,\;^{59}Fe,\;^{58}Co,\;^{60}Co,\;^{65}Zn,\;^{90}Sr,\;^{95}Nb,\;^{99}Tc,\;^{106}Ru,\;^{129}I,\;^{131}I,\;^{136}Cs,\;^{137}Cs,\;^{140}Ba,\;^{140}La,\;^{144}Ce,\;^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu,\;^{240}Pu$) for domestic seven reference animals (roe deer, rat, frog, snake, Chinese minnow, bee, and earthworm) and one reference plant (pine tree). The uniform isotropic model was applied in order to calculate the internal dose conversion coefficients. The calculated internal dose conversion coefficient (${\mu}Gyd^{-1}$ per $Bqkg^{-1}$) ranged from $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-2}$ according to the type of radionuclides and organisms studied. It turns out that the internal does conversion coefficient was higher for alpha radionuclides, such as $^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu$, and $^{240}Pu$, and for large organisms, such as roe deer and pine tree. The internal dose conversion coefficients of $^{239}U,\;^{240}Pu,\;^{238}U,\;^{14}C,\;^3H$, and $^{99}Tc$ were independent of the organism.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.297-311
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• 1996

ANSI decided PMMA slab phantom as a calibration phantom and introduced a conversion coefficient calculation method for it. For photon, the conversion coefficient can be obtained by using backscatter factor and conversion coefficient of the ICRU tissue cube and backscatter factor of the PMMA slab. For neutron, however, the ANSI has not introduced any conversion coefficient calculation method for the PMMA slab. In this work, the ANSI method for the photon conversion coefficient calculation was applied to the neutron conversion coefficient calculation of the PMMA slab. Quality weighted tissue kerma of neutron was applied to calculate the backscatter factors on the ICRU cube and the PMMA slab. The dose conversion coefficient of the ICRU cube was also calculated by using MCNP code. Then, the dose conversion coefficient of the PMMA slab was calculated from two backscatter factors and the dose conversion coefficient of the ICRU cube. The discrepancies of the dose conversion coefficients of the PMMA slab and the ICRU cube were less than 10% except 1eV(20%), 1keV(17%), and 4 MeV(16%).

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.98-105
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• 2021

Background: In recent events of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, computed tomography (CT) scans are being globally used as a complement to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. It will be important to be aware of major organ dose levels, which are more relevant quantity to derive potential long-term adverse effect, for Korean pediatric and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean pediatric and adult CT patients directly from Korean pediatric and adult computational phantoms combined with Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques. We then estimated major organ doses delivered to the Korean child and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19 combining the dose conversion coefficients and the international survey data. We also compared our Korean dose conversion coefficients with those from Caucasian reference pediatric and adult phantoms. Results and Discussion: Based on the dose conversion coefficients we established in this study and the international survey data of COVID-19-related CT scans, we found that Korean 7-year-old child and adult males may receive about 4-32 mGy and 3-21 mGy of lung dose, respectively. We learned that the lung dose conversion coefficient for the Korean child phantom was up to 1.5-fold greater than that for the Korean adult phantom. We also found no substantial difference in dose conversion coefficients between Korean and Caucasian phantoms. Conclusion: We estimated radiation dose delivered to the Korean child and adult phantoms undergoing COVID-19-related CT examinations. The dose conversion coefficients derived for different CT scan types can be also used universally for other dosimetry studies concerning Korean CT scans. We also confirmed that the Caucasian-based CT organ dose calculation tools may be used for the Korean population with reasonable accuracy.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.243-249
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• 2018

The indoor radon concentration was measured in the lecture room of the university and the radon concentration was converted to the amount related to the radon exposure using the dose conversion convention and compared with the reference levels for the radon concentration control. The effect of indoor radon inhalation was evaluated by estimating the life effective dose and the risk of exposure. To measure the radon concentration, measurements were made with a radon meter and a dedicated analysis Capture Ver. 5.5 program in a university lecture room from January to February 2018. The radon concentration measurement was carried out for 5 consecutive hours for 24 hours after keeping the airtight condition for 12 hours before the measurement. Radon exposure risk was calculated using the radon dose and dose conversion factor. Indoor radon concentration, radon exposure risk, and annual effective dose were found within the 95% confidence interval as the minimum and maximum boundary ranges. The radon concentration in the lecture room was $43.1-79.1Bq/m^3$, and the maximum boundary range within the 95% confidence interval was $77.7Bq/m^3$. The annual effective dose was estimated to be 0.20-0.36 mSv/y (mean 0.28 mSv/y). The life-time effective dose was estimated to be 0.66-1.18 mSv (mean $0.93{\pm}0.08mSv$). Life effective doses were estimated to be 0.88-0.99 mSv and radon exposure risk was estimated to be 12.4 out of 10.9 per 100,000. Radon concentration was measured, dose effective dose was evaluated using dose conversion convention, and degree of health hazard by indoor radon exposure was evaluated by predicting radon exposure risk using nominal hazard coefficient. It was concluded that indoor living environment could be applied to other specific exposure situations.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.424-435
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• 2016

Background: The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommendations and the Federal Guidance Report (FGR) published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been widely applied worldwide in the fields of radiation protection and dose assessment. The dose conversion coefficients of the ICRP and FGR are widely used for assessing exposure doses. However, before the coefficients are used, the user must thoroughly understand the derivation process of the coefficients to ensure that they are used appropriately in the evaluation. Materials and Methods: The ICRP provides recommendations to regulatory and advisory agencies, mainly in the form of guidance on the fundamental principles on which appropriate radiological protection can be based. The FGR provides federal and state agencies with technical information to assist their implementation of radiation protection programs for the U.S. population. The system of radiation dose assessment and dose conversion coefficients in the ICRP and FGR is reviewed in this study. Results and Discussion: A thorough understanding of their background is essential for the proper use of dose conversion coefficients. The FGR dose assessment system was strongly influenced by the ICRP and the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), and is hence consistent with those recommendations. Moreover, the ICRP and FGR both used the scientific data reported by Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) and United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) as their primary source of information. The difference between the ICRP and FGR lies in the fact that the ICRP utilized information regarding a population of diverse races, whereas the FGR utilized data on the American population, as its goal was to provide guidelines for radiological protection in the US. Conclusion: The contents of this study are expected to be utilized as basic research material in the areas of radiation protection and dose assessment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2190-2194
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• 2024

The study investigates the dose-dependent direct X-ray sensing characteristics of Brucinium benzilate (BB) and N-acetylglycine (NAG) organic crystals. BB and NAG were prepared as a slurry and deposited as a thick film on a patterned metal electrode. The X-ray induced photocurrent response was examined for various exposure doses using an intraoral pulsed 70 keV X-ray machine connected to a source meter. Subsequently, the morphological properties and thickness of the thick films were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). At a photon energy of 70 keV, the attenuation coefficient values for NAG and BB crystals were determined to be approximately 0.181 and 0.178 cm²/g, respectively. The X-ray stopping power of the crystals was measured using a suniray-2 X-ray imaging system. To evaluate the responsiveness of the sensors, the photocurrent sensitivity and noise equivalent dose rate (NED) were calculated for both thick films. The findings demonstrated a noteworthy capability of sensing low doses (mGy), thereby suggesting the potential application of these organic materials in X-ray sensor development.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2022

Background: The effects of radiation on the health of radiation workers who are constantly susceptible to occupational exposure must be assessed based on an accurate and reliable reconstruction of organ-absorbed doses that can be calculated using personal dosimeter readings measured as H_p(10) and dose conversion coefficients. However, the data used in the dose reconstruction contain significant biases arising from the lack of reality and could result in an inaccurate measure of organ-absorbed doses. Therefore, this study quantified the biases involved in organ dose reconstruction and calculated the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose coefficients for the use in epidemiological studies of Korean radiation workers. Materials and Methods: Two major biases were considered: (a) the bias in H_p(10) arising from the difference between the dosimeter calibration geometry and the actual exposure geometry, and (b) the bias in air kerma-to-H_p(10) conversion coefficients resulting from geometric differences between the human body and slab phantom. The biases were quantified by implementing personal dosimeters on the slab and human phantoms coupled with a Monte Carlo method and considered to calculate the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients. Results and Discussion: The bias in H_p(10) was significant for large incident angles and low energies (e.g., 0.32 for right lateral at 218 keV), whereas the bias in dose coefficients was significant for the posteroanterior (PA) geometry only (e.g., 0.79 at 218 keV). The bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients derived in this study were up to 3.09- fold greater than those from the International Commission on Radiological Protection publications without considering the biases. Conclusion: The obtained results will aid future studies in assessing the health effects of occupational exposure of Korean radiation workers. The bias-corrected dose coefficients of this study can be used to calculate organ doses for Korean radiation workers based on personal dose records.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 1997

The conversion coefficients of effective dose per unit air kerma and equivalent dose per unit fluence were calculated by MCNP4A code for antero-posterior(AP) and postero- anterior(PA) incidence of broad, unidirectional beams of photons into anthropomorphic MIRD phantom. Calculations have been performed for 20 monoenergetic photons of energy ranging from 0.03 to 10 MeV. The conversion coefficients showed a good agreement with the corresponding values given in the draft publication of joint task group of ICRP and ICRU within 10%. The deviations may arise from the differences of geometry in the MIRD phantom and the ADAM/EVE phantoms, and the differences in the codes and cross-section data used. Inclusion of a specific oesophagus model results in effective dose slightly different(5% at most) from the effective doses obtained by adopting the equivalent doses for the thymus or pancreas. Deletion of the ULI from the remainder organ appeared not to be significant for the cases of photon dosimetry covered in this study.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.215-224
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• 2001

In order to comply with revised national regulationson radiological protection and to implement recent nuclear data and dose conversion factors, KOPEC developed a new point kernel gamma and beta ray shielding analysis computer program. This new code, named VisualShield, adopted mass attenuation coefficient and buildup factors from recent ANSI/ANS standards and flux-to-dose conversion factors from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 74 for estimation of effective/equivalent dose recommended in ICRP 60. VisualShieid utilizes graphical user interfaces and 3-D visualization of the geometric configuration for preparing input data sets and analyzing results, which leads users to error free processing with visual effects. Code validation and data analysis were performed by comparing the results of various calculations to the data outputs of previous programs such as MCNP 4B, ISOSHLD-II, QAD-CGGP, etc.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.205-213
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• 1999

Effective dose conversion coefficients from unit activity radionuclides contaminated on the ground surface were calculated by using MCNP4A rode and male/female anthropomorphic phantoms. The simulation calculations were made for 19 energy points in the range of 40 keV to 10 MeV. The effective doses E resulting from unit source intensity for different energy were compared to the effective dose equivalent $H_E$ of previous studies. Our E values are lower by 30% at low energy than the $H_E$ values given in the Federal Guidance Report of USEPA. The effective dose response functions derived by polynomial fitting of the energy-effective dose relationship are as follows: $f({\varepsilon})[fSv\;m^2]=\;0.0634\;+\;0.727{\varepsilon}-0.0520{\varepsilon}^2+0.00247{\varepsilon}^3,\;where\;{\varepsilon}$ is the gamma energy in MeV. Using the response function and the radionuclide decay data given in ICRP 38, the effective dose conversion coefficients for unit activity contamination on the ground surface were calculated with addition of the skin dose contribution of beta particles determined by use of the DOSEFACTOR code. The conversion coefficients for 90 important radionuclides were evaluated and tabulated. Comparison with the existing data showed that a significant underestimates could be resulted when the old conversion coefficients were used, especially for the nuclides emitting low energy photons or high energy beta particles.