• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.92-100
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• 2015

For the purpose of improving the efficiency of the radiation impact assessment of dry interim storage facilities for the spent nuclear fuel of pressurized water reactors (PWRs), radiation impact assessment was performed after the application of sensitivity assessment according to the radiation source term designation method, development of a 2-step calculation technique, and cooling time credit. The present study successively designated radiation source terms in accordance with the cask arrangement order in the shielding building, assessed sensitivity, which affects direct dose, and confirmed that the radiation dosage of the external walls of the shielding building was dominantly affected by the two columns closest to the internal walls. In addition, in the case in which shielding buildings were introduced into storage facilities, the present study established and assessed the 2-step calculation technique, which can reduce the immense computational analysis time. Consequently, results similar to those from existing calculations were derived in approximately half the analysis time. Finally, when radiation source terms were established by adding the storage period of the storage casks successively stored in the storage facilities and the cooling period of the spent nuclear fuel, the radiation dose of the external walls of the buildings was confirmed to be approximately 40% lower than the calculated values; the cooling period was established as being identical. The present study was conducted to improve the efficiency of the Monte Carlo shielding analysis method for radiation impact assessment of interim storage facilities. If reliability is improved through the assessment of more diverse cases, the results of the present study can be used for the design of storage facilities and the establishment of site boundary standards.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.161-172
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• 2023

Coal-fired power plants handle large quantities of coal, one of the most prominent NORM, and the coal ash produced after the coal is burned can be tens of times more radioactive than the coal. Workers in these industries may be exposed to internal exposure by inhalation of particles while handling NORM. This study evaluated the size, concentration, particle shape and density, and radioactivity concentrations of airborne suspended particles in the main processes of a coal-fired power plant. Finally, the internal radiation dose to workers from particle inhalation was evaluated. For this purpose, airborne particles were collected by size using a multi-stage particle collector to determine the size, shape, and concentration of particles. Samples of coal and coal ash were collected to measure the density and radioactivity of particles. The dose conversion factor and annual radionuclide inhalation amount were derived based on the characteristics of the particles. Finally, the internal radiation dose due to particle inhalation was evaluated. Overall, the internal radiation dose to workers in the main processes of coalfired power plants A and B ranged from 1.47×10^-5~1.12×10^-3 mSv y^-1. Due to the effect of dust generated during loading operations, the internal radiation dose of fly ash loading processes in both coal-fired power plants A and B was higher than that of other processes. In the case of workers in the coal storage yard at power plants A and B, the characteristic values such as particle size, airborne concentration, and working time were the same, but due to the difference in radioactivity concentration and density depending on the origin of the coal, the internal radiation dose by origin was different, and the highest was found when inhaling coal imported from Australia among the five origins. In addition, the main nuclide contributing the most to the internal radiation dose from the main processes in the coal-fired power plants was thorium due to differences in dose conversion factors. However, considering the external radiation dose of workers in coal-fired power plants presented in overseas research cases, the annual effective dose of workers in the main processes of power plants A and B does not exceed 1mSv y^-1, which is the dose limit for the general public notified by the Nuclear Safety Act. The results of this study can be utilized to identify the internal exposure levels of workers in domestic coal-fired power plants and will contribute to the establishment of a data base for a differential safety management system for NORM-handling industries in the future.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.54-55
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• 2003

Radiation therapy has been used for the cancer treatment externally or internally. The external radiation therapy has been widely used, but for the lack of its selectivity it requires strong radiation dose causing the dermal irritation and radiation effect of the normal tissues or organs. So we investigate non-clinical and clinical studies of “Milican inj.”, in which chitosan is chelated with 166-Holmium, as an anticancer agent for internal radiation therapy. (omitted)

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2020

Background: Dose conversion coefficients (DCCs) have been commonly used to estimate radiation-dose absorption by human organs based on physical measurements of fluence or kerma. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has reported a library of DCCs, but few studies have been conducted on their applicability to non-Caucasian populations. In the present study, we collected a total of 8 Korean pediatric and adult voxel phantoms to calculate the organ DCCs for idealized external photon-irradiation geometries. Materials and Methods: We adopted one pediatric female phantom (ETRI Child), two adult female phantoms (KORWOMAN and HDRK Female), and five adult male phantoms (KORMAN, ETRI Man, KTMAN1, KTMAN2, and HDRK Man). A general-purpose Monte Carlo radiation transport code, MCNPX2.7 (Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport extended version 2.7), was employed to calculate the DCCs for 13 major radiosensitive organs in six irradiation geometries (anteroposterior, posteroanterior, right lateral, left lateral, rotational, and isotropic) and 33 photon energy bins (0.01-20 MeV). Results and Discussion: The DCCs for major radiosensitive organs (e.g., lungs and colon) in anteroposterior geometry agreed reasonably well across the 8 Korean phantoms, whereas those for deep-seated organs (e.g., gonads) varied significantly. The DCCs of the child phantom were greater than those of the adult phantoms. A comparison with the ICRP Publication 116 data showed reasonable agreements with the Korean phantom-based data. The variations in organ DCCs were well explained using the distribution of organ depths from the phantom surface. Conclusion: A library of dose conversion coefficients for major radiosensitive organs in a series of pediatric and adult Korean voxel phantoms was established and compared with the reference data from the ICRP. This comparison showed that our Korean phantom-based data agrees reasonably with the ICRP reference data.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.230-236
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• 2001

Purpose : To evaluate treatment results in terms of local control, complications and survival after reirraidiation in recurrent cervical cancer following definite radiation therapy. Material and methods : From November 1987 through March 1998, eighteen patients with recurrent cervical cancer following definite radiation therapy were subsequently treated with reirradiation at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. In regard to the initial FIGO stage, one patient was stage la, five were stage IIa, three were IIb, two were IIb and two were IVa. The age range was 37 to 79 years old with median age of 57. The time interval from initial definite radiation therapy to recurrence ranged from 6 to 122 months with a median of 58 months. The recurrent sites were the uterine cervix in seven patients, vagina in ten and pelvic lymph node in one. Reirradiation was peformed with external radiation and intracavitary radiation in twelve patients, external radiation and implantation in four and external radiation alone in two. The range of external radiation dose was $2,100\~5,400\;cGy$ and the range of the total radiation dose was $3,780\~8,550\;cGy$. The follow-up periods ranged from 8 to 20 months with median of 25 following reirradiation. Results : Fourteen of eighteen patients $(78\%)$ had local control just after reirradiation. The two year disease free survival (2YDFS) rate was $53.6\%$. There were statistically significant differences in the 2YDFS according to both recurrent site (2YDFS $28.5\%$ in uterine cervix, $71.4\%$ in vagina, (p=0.03)) and the total dose (2YDFS $71.8\%$ in >6,000 cGy , $25\%$ in $\leq6,000$ cGy, p=0.007). Seven of ten patients who were followed for more than 20 months remain alive and disease free (7/18, $39\%$). Patients treated with external radiation and intracavitary radiation had a higher rate of 2YDFS. Seven patients including 4 patients with no local control experienced local failure in the uterus or vagina and two patients died with distant metastasis. Complications included rectal bleeding in 3 patients, bowel obstruction treated with surgery in two, hematuria in one, radiation cystitis in two, soft tissue swelling in two and vaginal necrosis spontaneously healed in one. There was no statistical difference in complications according to the total dose or the time to recurrence from initial radiation. Conclusion : In patients with recurrence following definite radiation therapy in the uterine cervical cancer, reirradiation may be effective but requires an effort to reduce radiation induced severe complications.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1982

For the purpose of establishment of Reference Korean and estimation of internal and external exposure doses in the Reference Korean, we have surveyed reference values for Koreans, such as physical standards including height, weight and body surface area, food consumption rate of daily intake of radioactive substances and exposure dose from natural radiation. The results obtained are as follows: 1) The age group of the Reference Korean ranged from 20 to 30 years old in both sexes. The height, weight and surface area of the body of the Reference Korean are 167cm, 61kg and $1.67m^2$ in male and 155cm, 51kg and $1.51m^2$, respectively in female. 2) The food consumption of the Korean is 812.8g (669.6g of vegetable food and 143.2g of animal food) per capita per day. 3) Koreans are taken about 1,200 pCi of radioactive substances(${\beta}$-ray) per capita per day. 4) The external and internal radiation exposure doses of the Korean are estimated to be 127 mrem and 8 mrem per year, respectively. However, it is believed that these values will be modified upon the addition of data collection.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.50-64
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• 2024

Background: The reference dose coefficients (DCs) of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) have been widely used to estimate organ doses of individuals for risk assessments. This approach has been well accepted because individual anatomy data are usually unavailable, although dosimetric uncertainty exists due to the anatomical difference between the reference phantoms and the individuals. We attempted to quantify the individual variation of organ doses for photon external exposures by calculating and comparing organ DCs for 30 individuals against the ICRP reference DCs. Materials and Methods: We acquired computed tomography images from 30 patients in which eight organs (brain, breasts, liver, lungs, skeleton, skin, stomach, and urinary bladder) were segmented using the ImageJ software to create voxel phantoms. The phantoms were implemented into the Monte Carlo N-Particle 6 (MCNP6) code and then irradiated by broad parallel photon beams (10 keV to 10 MeV) at four directions (antero-posterior, postero-anterior, left-lateral, right-lateral) to calculate organ DCs. Results and Discussion: There was significant variation in organ doses due to the difference in anatomy among the individuals, especially in the kilovoltage region (e.g., <100 keV). For example, the red bone marrow doses at 0.01 MeV varied from 3 to 7 orders of the magnitude depending on the irradiation geometry. In contrast, in the megavoltage region (1-10 MeV), the individual variation of the organ doses was found to be negligibly small (differences <10%). It was also interesting to observe that the organ doses of the ICRP reference phantoms showed good agreement with the mean values of the organ doses among the patients in many cases. Conclusion: The results of this study would be informative to improve insights in individual-specific dosimetry. It should be extended to further studies in terms of many different aspects (e.g., other particles such as neutrons, other exposures such as internal exposures, and a larger number of individuals/patients) in the future.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.227-234
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• 2018

Purpose: We compared how doses delivered via two-dimensional (2D) intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) and three-dimensional (3D) ICBT varied anatomically. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 patients who received 30 Gy of 3D ICBT after external radiotherapy (RT) were enrolled. We compared the doses of the actual 3D and 2D ICBT plans among patients grouped according to six anatomical variations: differences in a small-bowel V_2Gy, small bowel circumference, the direction of bladder distension, bladder volume, sigmoid V_3.5Gy, and sigmoid circumference. Seven dose parameters were measured in line with the EMBRACE recommendations. Results: In terms of bladder volume, the bladder and small-bowel D_2cc values were lower in the 150-250 mL bladder volume subgroup; and the rectum, sigmoid, and bladder D_2mL values were all lower in the >250 mL subgroup, for 3D vs. 2D ICBT. In the sigmoid V_3.5Gy >2 _mL subgroup, the sigmoid and bladder D_2mL values were significantly lower for 3D than 2D ICBT. The bladder D_2mL value was also significantly lower for 3D ICBT, as reflected by the sigmoid circumference. In patients with a small bowel V_2.0Gy >10 mL or small bowel circumference >15%, most dose parameters were significantly lower for 3D than 2D ICBT. The bladder distension direction did not significantly affect the doses. Conclusion: Compared to 2D ICBT, a greater bladder volume can reduce the internal 3D ICBT organ dose without affecting the target dose.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.143-148
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• 1993

From September 1985 through September 1989,56 patients with stage IIIB carcinoma of the cervix were treated with radiation therapy with curative aim. The overall survival at 5 year was $38{\%}$. The survival rate was better for patients treated with combined external radiotherapy and high dose rate intracavitary radiotherapy than with external radiotherapy alone. No significant survival difference was observed between the unilateral and bilateral parametrial extension of the tumor Seventeen patients experienced recurrence within the irradiated field with a loco-regional recurrence rate of $30{\%}$. Ten patients had complications ($18{\%}$). The complications were mild in three, moderate in four, and severe in three patients. A study was made on the relationship between the fraction numbers of intracavitary radiotherapy, vaginal packing and the complication rate, respectively. In this analysis author observed that the significant treatment factor influencing the survival of cervical cancer was the use of intracavitary radiation, and meticulous vaginal packing could decrease the late complication rate of radiotherapy of cervical cancer.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.152-161
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• 1986

외부방사선피폭(外部放射線被曝)으로 인한 위험(危險)의 평가(評價)와 관련된 량(量) 및 개념(槪念)의 동향(動向)과 미해결(未解決)된 문제점(問題點)들에 대하여 살펴보았다. 특히 ICRU 39의 실용량(實用量)에 근거(根據)한 선량환산인자(線量換算因子), 선질계수(線質係數)의 재정의(再定義), 성별(性別)에 따른 위험(危險)의 차이(差異) 그리고 기타조직(其他組織)의 선정문제등(選定問題等)에 대하여 구체적(具體的)으로 논(論)하였다.