BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in self-contamination rates and levels of contact and droplet protection associated with enhanced respiratory and contact precautions (E-RCP) and a personal protective system that included a full body suit, personal protective equipment and a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR). METHODS In this prospective, randomized, con...

Significant environmental contamination by radioactive materials has occurred in some parts of the world due to industrial and military activities, such as nuclear weapon testing, uranium mining and nuclear and radiological accidents. The most well-known sites where large scale remediation has been implemented include: the nuclear test sites in the Bikini and Enewetak Atolls (USA) and Maralinga...

A comparative assessment of physiological and cygotenetical parameters in Lymnaea stagnalis populations from Perstok lake and the inlet of Pripyat river with the highest in Belarus and moderate levels of radioactive contamination have been carried out. In 2004 f γ-activity of snails from river and lake amounted to 39.2 and 567.8 Bq kg, respectively, and β-activity – to 123.4 and 7055 Bq kg resp...

OBJECTIVE This case report illustrates urinary extravasation and leakage after renal transplantation, as documented by nuclear medicine renal imaging. The extravasation and leakage were identified only on images acquired after the patient voided. The surgical wound site dressings were found to contain radioactive contamination as well.

A tremendous amount of radioactivity was discharged because of the damage to cooling systems of nuclear reactors in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011. Fukushima and its adjacent prefectures were contaminated with fission products from the accident. Here, we show a geographical distribution of radioactive iodine, tellurium, and cesium in the surface soils of central-east Japa...

Introduction Accurate estimation of the skin-absorbed dose in external radiation therapy is essential to estimating the probability of secondary carcinogenesis induction Materials and Methods Electron contamination in prostate radiotherapy was investigated using the Monte Carlo (MC) code calculation. In addition, field size dependence of the skin dose was assessed. Excess cancer risk induced by...

Workers decommissioning the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant damaged from the Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting tsunami are at risk of injury with possible contamination from radioactive heavy atoms including actinides, such as plutonium. We propose a new methodology for on-site and rapid evaluation of heavy-atom contamination in wounds using a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) dev...

The BiPo project is dedicated to the measurement of extremely low radioactive contaminations of SuperNEMO ββ source foils (Tl < 2 μBq/kg and Bi < 10 μBq/kg). A modular BiPo1 prototype with its 20 modules and its shielding test facility is running in the Modane Underground Laboratory since February, 2008. The goal of this prototype is to study the backgrounds and particularly the surface contami...