• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2009

Proton therapy facility, which is recently installed at National Cancer Center in Korea, generally produces a large amount of radiation near cyclotron due to the secondary particles and radioisotopes caused by collision between proton and nearby materials during the acceleration. Although the level of radiation by radioisotope decreases in length of time, radiation exposure problem still exists since workers are easily exposed by a low level of radiation for a long time due to their job assignment for maintenance or repair of the proton facility. In this paper, the working environment near cyclotron, where the highest radiation exposure is expected, was studied by measuring the degree of radiation and its duration for an appropriate level of protective action guide. To do this, we measured the radiation change in the graphite based energy degrader, the efficiency of transmitted beam and relative activation degree of the transmission beam line. The results showed that while the level of radiation exposure around cyclotron and beam line during the operation is much higher than the other radiation therapy facilities, the radiation exposure rate per year is under the limit recommended by the law showing 1~3 mSv/year.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.537-548
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• 2020

Currently, radioactive waste for disposal has been restricted to low and intermediate level radioactive waste generated during operation of nuclear power plants, and these radioactive wastes were managed and disposed of the 200 L and 320 L of steel drums. However, it is expected that it will be difficult to manage a large amount of decommissioning waste of the Kori unit 1 with the existing drums and transportation containers. Accordingly, the KORAD is currently developing various and large-sized containers for packaging, transportation, and disposal of decommissioning waste. In this study, the radiation exposure doses of workers and the public were evaluated using RADTRAN computational analysis code in case of the domestic on-road transportation of new package and transportation containers under development. The results were compared with the domestic annual dose limit. In addition, the sensitivity of the expected exposure dose according to the change in the leakage rate of radionuclides in the waste packaging was evaluated. As a result of the evaluation, it was confirmed that the exposure dose under normal and accident condition was less than the domestic annual exposure dose limit. However, in the case of a number of loading and unloading operations, working systems should be prepared to reduce the exposure of workers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.503-510
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• 2016

Even though children are exposed to the same amount of radiation, their effective dose amount is higher than those of adults. Therefore, it is very important to reduce the amount of unnecessary radiation exposure because children have a higher radiosensitivity and a smaller body size than adults. In this study, the proposal to seek ways to reduce the amount of radiation is drawn by comparing and analyzing CT Dose Index(CTDI) on the pediatric head CT which was performed at the Busan regional hospitals, to the national diagnostic reference levels. For this, the pediatric head CT scan was conducted among the CT equipments that were installed in downtown Busan. From 2,043 children 10 years old or less who were referred to the pediatric head CT scan, targeting the 28 CT equipments in the 24 hospitals that transmit dose reports to PACS, were examined retrospectively. As a result, the average value of CTDIvol, computed tomography dose index (CTDI) of infant brain, across the hospital, was 31.18 mGy, with DLP of $444.73mGy{\cdot}cm$, which exceeded the diagnostic reference level. The lower the age, the more management is needed for radiation. However, the reality is that the CT examinations are being conducted with a dose that exceeds the reference level as the age of the aged is exceeded. For this purpose, the study seeks to determine the degree of doses of doses outside the diagnostic reference level and analyze the cause of the excess dose and devise measures to reduce the dose reduction.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2023

During the operation of a nuclear power plant (NPP), the waste reactor vessel closure head (RVCH) that is replaced owing to design or manufacturing defects is buried in a designated area or temporarily stored in a radiation shielding facility within the NPP. In such cases, storing it for extended periods proves a challenge owing to space constraints in the power plant and a safety risk associated with radiation exposure; therefore, dismantling it quickly and safely is crucial. However, not much research has been done on the dismantling of the RVCH in an operational power plant. This study proposes a dismantling process based on the radioactive contamination level measured for the Kori #1 RVCH, which is currently being discarded and stored, and examines the decontamination and cutting according to this process. In addition, the amount of secondary waste and dismantling cost are evaluated, and the dismantling effect of the reactor closure head is analyzed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.61-64
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• 2014

Radioactive materials are in use and have many applications from the generation of electricity to the purposes of research, industry and medicine such as diagnosis and therapy. In the course of their use some of radioactive substances may be discharged into the environment from facilities using the unsealed radioactive materials, which are main artificial sources occurring the public exposure. Discharges are in the form of gases, particles or liquids. This paper provides procedures to estimate the level of the public exposure based on the conservative assumptions and simple calculations in the facility using unsealed liquid sources. They consist of two processes; (1) to calculate maximum concentration of gaseous effluents discharged through the exhaust pipe and average concentration of liquid effluents discharged through the drain of the storage tank, (2) to compare each of them to numerical guidances for the discharges of radioactive gaseous and liquid effluents mentioned in the related notification. For this purpose followings are assumed properly; daily usage, form and dispersion rate of radionuclides, daily amount of radioactive liquid waste and exhaust and drainage equipment. The procedures are readily applicable to evaluate environmental effects by planned effluent discharges from facilities using the unsealed radioactive materials. In addition they may be utilized to obtain practical requirements for radiation safety control necessary for the reductions of the public exposure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.303-308
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• 2011

Background/Aims : The increasing use of diagnostic and therapeutic interventional radiology calls for greater consideration of radiation exposure risk to radiologist and radiological technician, and emphasizes the proper system of radiation protection. This study was designed to assess the effect of a protective grass shield. Methods : A protective grass was following data depth, 0.8 cm; width, 100 cm; length, 100 cm, lead equivalent, 1.6 mmPb. The protective shield was located between the patient and the radiologist. Thirty patients (13 male and 17 female) undergoing interventional radiology between September 2010 and December 2010 were selected for this study. The dose of radiation exposure was recorded with or without the protective grass shield at the level of the head, chest, and pelvis. The measurement was made at 50 cm and 150 cm from the radiation source. Results : The mean patient age was 69 years. The mean patient height and weight was $159.7{\pm}6.7$ cm and $60.3{\pm}5.9$ kg, respectively. The mean body mass index (BMI) was $20.5{\pm}3.0$ kg/m2. radiologists received $1530.2{\pm}550.0$ mR/hr without the protective lead shield. At the same distance, radiation exposure was significantly reduced to $50.3{\pm}85.2$ mR/hr with the protective lead shield (p-value<0.0001). The radiation exposure to radiologist and radiological technician was significantly reduced by the use of a protective lead shield (p value <0.0001). The amount of radiation exposure during interventional radiology was related to the patient' BMI (r=0.749, p=0.001). Conclusions : This protective shield grass is effective in protecting radiologist and radiological technician from radiation exposure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.351-357
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• 2018

During radiation therapy, the patient is exposed to secondary radiation by scattered and leakage radiation. For the diagnostic radiation, guidelines for reducing the patient's exposure as the diagnostic reference level are provided. However, in the case of therapeutic radiation, even though the radiation dose by the secondary radiation is considerable, the prescription dose is not limited because of the reason of the therapeutic efficiency. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the secondary radiation that the patient could be received at the peripheral tissue during the radiotherapy using the linear accelerator with the radiophotoluminescent glass dosimeter. In addition, we measured the degree of saturation of the luminescent amount according to the build-up characteristic of the radiophotoluminescent glass dosimeter. As a result of carrying out this study, the exposure dose decreased drastically farther away from the treatment field. When the head was irradiated with 1 Gy, the neck could be exposed to 18.45 mGy. When the same dose was irradiated at the neck, 15.55 mGy of the head and irradiated at the chest, 14.26 mGy of the neck and irradiated at the pelvis, 1.14 mGy of the chest were exposed separately. The degree of saturation of the luminescent intensity could be overestimated by 1.8 ~ 4.8% depending on time interval for 3 days.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.411-420
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• 2015

Objectives : This study tries to find the educational basis based on the radiation safety knowledge, attitudes and behaviors to check the level of radiation safety behavior in domestic students who study dental hygiene. Methods : The students of 3rd and 4th grades in 83 universities which have registered on the Korean University Education Council were involved, and they were given a questionnaire for this study. The questionnaire was provided via visit with 20 copies to each university (total 1660 copies), mail by post and e-mail. Among them, we analyzed only 723 copies that we can trust. The data were analyzed with frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson's correlation using the SPSS/WIN 15.0. Results : As a result, there are correlations in the students' knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding the radiation safety management. It means that the education which can improve the knowledge and attitudes should be applied to increase the action level of the radiation safety. In addition, the physical environment is the most closely correlated with the individual behavior, so it will be limited to improve the behavioral levels of the radiation safety if the physical environment is not prepared. Therefore, the physical environment should be supported to enhance the level of the radiation safety activity, and to increase the individual attitude level of radiation safety. Conclusions : The knowledge level of the radiation safety management is relatively lower than the attitudes level, and the behavior level is the lowest. Therefore, the education policy of the safety behavior must be enhanced. For domestic students, the educational intervention is necessary to improve their behavioral level of radiation safety management because they will be able to reduce the amount of radiation exposure of their patients in dental care after getting a job.

• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.215-236
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• 2016

This paper is related to a study on safety management of cosmic radiation in the aviation area, and as a comprehensive study encompassing not only aviation crew but also aviation traffic users, presents issues on an exposure to the cosmic radiation which authors predict may be intensified in a time to come. Although the government of the Republic of Korea has recently activated regulations related to the cosmic radiation, the following improvement measures are further urged to be carried out not only as a regulatory improvement for pushing ahead with effectiveness but also as a supplementary tool. Firstly, a dose limit corresponding to the international standard needs to be applied. Since the dose limit imposed by the Korean government is improperly higher than the international dose limit of the cosmic radiation, the present dose limit needs to be re-established in a range of "not exceeding the international recommendation". Secondly, a new methodology is needed such that aviation companies observe a yearly effective dose limit of passengers. A fact that only aviation crew is specified but passengers are excluded in the related regulation is based on a recommendation presented by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). According to the recommendation, Korean government excluded passengers in the "Cosmic Radiation Safety Requirements for Crew". Among the present aviation regulations, there exists a protection standard for protecting aviation traffic users. However, it presents a damage protection only for ticket-related issues. Since this regulatory weakness provides a cause of endangering national health, the authors believe that an improvement in the regulation is needed without sticking to the recommendation from the ICRP. To this end, new regulations are strongly demanded from aspects of not only legal but also regulatory areas. The dose limit in accordance with the international standard is established. However, at least a minute amount of cosmic radiation is continuously acting on all people of Korea. Since more and higher level of cosmic ration may exist in the aviation space, an improved method of representing the minute amount of cosmic radiation in figures. As a result, a desirable regulation may be established for protecting not only crew but also aviation traffic users from being exposed to the cosmic radiation via a legislation of the desirable regulation.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.78-90
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• 2013

Recently, the interest on exposure to radiation is rising. The radiation exposure of mammography is higher in absorbed dose than of X-ray, therefore unnecessary exposure needs to be reduced, and higher image quality is needed. Generally, ray quality of the radiation imaging is an important factor that determines image quality and the amount of ray exposure, and they are affected by tube voltage and added filter. The X-ray energy that is exposed from mammography device is generally a continuous spectrum, which includes low energy that has minute influence on the image quality, and high energy that hinders contrast on image. Currently, molybdenum (Mo) and rhodium (Rh) are the most used added filters for mammography device, and they are used differently according to the energy region of X-ray. This study aims to find out the degree of reduction in exposure dose according to the thickness of aluminum (Al), and to study the changes in image quality and dose when the added filter plates that are made with niobium (Nb) or zirconium (Zr) are used, other than molybdenum (Mo) and rhodium (Rh), the two most used added filters that have similar atomic number and K-absorption regions as Nb and Zr. In this study, single-added filters of molybdenum (Mo), niobium (Nb), and zirconium (Zr) are used, and in some cases, Aluminum (Al) is combined with the single filters. In this case, image quality is considered to be improved depending on the type of added filters, and by using Aluminum (Al) filter together with the others, unnecessary X-ray of low energy would be absorbed, therefore the dose is expected to decrease without any influence when the concentration level becomes identical.