Background: Megavoltage beams used in radiotherapy are contaminated with secondary electrons. Different parts of linac head and air above patient act as a source of this contamination. This contamination can increase damage to skin and subcutaneous tissue during radiotherapy. Monte Carlo simulation is an accurate method for dose calculation in medical dosimetry and has an important role in opt...

Following the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, the risk level perceived by Koreans on the radioactive contamination of Japanese food that is being distributed in Korea remains high. Many of these perceptions are based on subjective risk perception rather than an objective measure with scientific evidence, which makes communicating risks more difficult; therefore, it is critical to unders...

Isotopes that may contaminate crops Fallout may be made up of a hundred or more active isotopes but only a few of them are likely to be harmful as crop contaminants. Iodine. As 1311, it will be a major hazard for a few weeks after fallout arrives. Chamberlain & Chadwick (1953) showed that iodine gas is deposited on grass by diffusion. Chamberlain, Loutit, Martin & Russell (1955) note that, in f...

OBJECTIVES Although respiratory exposures have been the primary concern with isocyanates, skin exposure also can occur and may contribute to sensitization and asthma. Methodologies to assess isocyanate skin exposure in the workplace are limited and skin exposure data scarce. The goals of this study were (i) to evaluate and validate the isocyanate colorimetric indicators against a quantitative a...

Assumptions for public health emergency preparedness planning involving the detonation of an improvised nuclear device in a large metropolitan area include casualties in the hundreds of thousands, total infrastructure damage within a radius of 0.8–4.8 km (0.5–3 mi), and radioactive materials contaminating thousands of square kilometers (1). It is apparent that responding to an improvised nuclea...

Feasibility tests were initiated to determine if the zirconium in commercial used nuclear fuel (UNF) cladding can be recovered in sufficient purity to permit re-use, and if the recovery process can be operated economically. Initial tests are being performed with unirradiated, non-radioactive samples of various types of Zircaloy materials that are used in UNF cladding to develop the recovery pro...

A successfull application of Geiger-mode multipixel avalanche diodes (GMAPDs) for pulse-shape discrimination in alpha-beta spectrometry using organic liquid scintillator is described in this paper. Efficient discrimination of alpha and beta components in the emission of radioactive isotopes is achieved for alpha energies above 0.3 MeV. The ultra-compact design of the scintillating detector help...