• Title/Summary/Keyword: Radiological Assessment

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Preparation of Radiological Environmental Impact Assessment for the Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plant in Korea (국내 원전 해체시 방사선환경영향평가 방안)

  • Lee, Sang-Ho;Seo, Hyung-Woo;Kim, Chang-Lak
    • Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.107-122
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    • 2018
  • Kori unit 1, the oldest commercial nuclear power plant in South Korea, was permanently shut down in June 2017. There are a lot of things to consider in decommissioning nuclear power plants, and one of them is the radiological environmental impact assessment. Performed to promote the health and safety of residents around the nuclear power plant, radiological environmental impact assessment aims to confirm that off-site radiological dose from radioactive material released from the facility does not exceed the regulatory criteria. There are three main parts of environmental impact assessment: pre-decommissioning environmental monitoring, environmental monitoring during decommissioning, and impact on nearby residents. At present, although the Korea Nuclear Safety Act stipulates that radiological environmental impact assessment resulting from decommissioning should be carried out, the details have not been specified. Therefore, this paper compares and analyzes guidelines for evaluation of radiological environmental impacts of nuclear power plants overseas, and presents a draft on the assessment of radiological dose resulting from decommissioning according to the Korean situation.

X-band EPR dosimetry using minimum mass of tooth enamel for use in radiological accidents

  • Jae Seok Kim;Byeong Ryong Park;Han Sung Kim;In Mo Eo;Jaeryong Yoo;Won Il Jang;Minsu Cho;HyoJin Kim;Yong Kyun Kim
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.56 no.1
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    • pp.123-131
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    • 2024
  • Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) dosimetry for a tooth from an individual exposed is well known as retrospective dosimetry in radiological accidents. A major constraint of the conventional X-band tooth-EPR dosimetry is the necessity to extract the tooth of the exposed patient for dose assessment. In this study, to conduct the dose assessments of exposed patients through part-extraction of tooth enamel, the minimum detectable dose (MDD) of the tooth enamel was evaluated based on the amount of mass. Further, a field test was conducted via intercomparison using various dose assessment methods to verify the feasibility of X-band tooth-EPR dosimetry using the minimum mass of tooth enamel. The intercomparison results demonstrated that effective dose determination via X-band tooth-EPR dosimetry is reliable. Consequently, it was determined that the minimum mass of tooth enamel required to evaluate an absorbed dose above 0.5 Gy is 15 mg. Thus, EPR dosimetry using 15 mg of tooth enamel can be applied in the triage and initial medical response stages for patients exposed during radiological accidents. This approach represents an advancement in managing radiological accidents by offering a more efficient and less invasive method of dose assessment.

Radiological Safety Assessment of Transporting Radioactive Wastes to the Gyeongju Disposal Facility in Korea

  • Jeong, Jongtae;Baik, Min Hoon;Kang, Mun Ja;Ahn, Hong-Joo;Hwang, Doo-Seong;Hong, Dae Seok;Jeong, Yong-Hwan;Kim, Kyungsu
    • Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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    • v.48 no.6
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    • pp.1368-1375
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    • 2016
  • A radiological safety assessment study was performed for the transportation of low level radioactive wastes which are temporarily stored in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Daejeon, Korea. We considered two kinds of wastes: (1) operation wastes generated from the routine operation of facilities; and (2) decommissioning wastes generated from the decommissioning of a research reactor in KAERI. The important part of the radiological safety assessment is related to the exposure dose assessment for the incidentfree (normal) transportation of wastes, i.e., the radiation exposure of transport personnel, radiation workers for loading and unloading of radioactive waste drums, and the general public. The effective doses were estimated based on the detailed information on the transportation plan and on the radiological characteristics of waste packages. We also estimated radiological risks and the effective doses for the general public resulting from accidents such as an impact and a fire caused by the impact during the transportation. According to the results, the effective doses for transport personnel, radiation workers, and the general public are far below the regulatory limits. Therefore, we can secure safety from the viewpoint of radiological safety for all situations during the transportation of radioactive wastes which have been stored temporarily in KAERI.

Development and Application of Radiological Risk Assessment Program RADCONS (방사능위해성평가 프로그램 RADCONS의 개발 및 적용)

  • Jeong, Hyojoon;Park, Misun;Hwang, Wontae;Kim, Eunhan;Han, Moonhee
    • Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.89-97
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    • 2013
  • RADCONS Ver. 1.0 (RADiological CONSequence Assessment Program) was developed for radiological risk assessment in this study. A Gaussian plume model was used to analyze the fate and transport of radionuclides released into the air in case of accidents. Both single meterological data and time series meterological data can be used in RADCONS. To assess the radiological risk of the early phase after an accident, ED (Effective Dose) estimated by both deterministic and probabilistic approaches are presented. These EDs by deterministic and probabilistic will be helpful to efficient decision making for decision makers. External doses from deposited materials by time are presented for quantifying the effects of mid and late phases of an accident. A radiological risk assessment was conducted using RADCONS for an accident scenario of 1 Ci of Cs-137. The maximum of ED for radii of 1,000 meters from the accident point was 8.51E-4 mSv. After Monte-Carlo simulation, considering the uncertainty of the breathing rate and dispersion parameters, the average ED was 8.49E-4, and the 95 percentile was 1.10E-3. A data base of the dose coefficients and a sampling module of the meteorological data will be modified to improve the user's convenience in the next version.

Region of Interest Heterogeneity Assessment for Image using Texture Analysis

  • Park, Yong Sung;Kang, Joo Hyun;Lim, Sang Moo;Woo, Sang-Keun
    • Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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    • v.21 no.11
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    • pp.17-21
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    • 2016
  • Heterogeneity assessment of tumor in oncology is important for diagnosis of cancer and therapy. The aim of this study was performed assess heterogeneity tumor region in PET image using texture analysis. For assessment of heterogeneity tumor in PET image, we inserted sphere phantom in torso phantom. Cu-64 labeled radioisotope was administrated by 156.84 MBq in torso phantom. PET/CT image was acquired by PET/CT scanner (Discovery 710, GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI). The texture analysis of PET images was calculated using occurrence probability of gray level co-occurrence matrix. Energy and entropy is one of results of texture analysis. We performed the texture analysis in tumor, liver, and background. Assessment textural features of region-of-interest (ROI) in torso phantom used in-house software. We calculated the textural features of torso phantom in PET image using texture analysis. Calculated entropy in tumor, liver, and background were 5.322, 7.639, and 7.818. The further study will perform assessment of heterogeneity using clinical tumor PET image.

Radiological Dose Assessment Due to the Operation of Nuclear Facilities at KAERI Nuclear Site

  • Han, M.H.;Kim, E.H.;Hwang, W.T;Yeom, J.M.;Han, J.T.;Lee, Y.B.;Han, W.J.
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.28 no.3
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    • pp.247-254
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    • 2003
  • To prevent the potential health detriment to the public from radioactive effluents, radiological dose assessments due to the operation of nuclear facilities located at Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) site has been performed semiannually in compliance with the Minister of Science and Technology (MOST)'s Notice in Korea. Radiological dose assessment based on the new recommendation of the International Committee on Radiation Protection (ICRP-60) has been conducted since 1998. In this manuscript, a serial activities at KAERI site to meet the regulatory standards for routine releases of radioactive effluents are introduced and discussed including technical approaches. It is clear that each nuclear facility has been operated in compliance with regulatory standards. Furthermore, it is identified that the radiation induced health effects for residents around the site are neglectable.

Suggestion on Screening Concept of Radionuclides to be Considered for the Radiological Safety Assessment of the Domestic KBS-3 Type Geological Disposal Facility of High-level Radioactive Waste(HLW) (국내 KBS-3 방식 고준위방사성폐기물 심층처분시설 방사선학적 안전성 평가 대상 방사성핵종 목록 선정개념(안) 제언)

  • Sukhoon Kim;Donghyun Lee;Dong-Keuk Park
    • Journal of Radiation Industry
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.45-59
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    • 2023
  • The transport calculation for a wide variety of radionuclides contained in high-level radioactive waste, especially spent nuclear fuel, is computationally difficult, and input data collection for this also take a considerable amount of time. Accordingly, considering limited resources, it is possible to reduce the calculation time while minimizing impact on accuracy by including only radionuclides important to calculation result through applying some criteria among potential radiation source terms that may release into environment. In this paper, therefore, we reviewed and analyzed the screening process performed to select radionuclides to be considered in the safety assessment for the KBS-3 type repository in Sweden and Finland. In both countries, it was confirmed that a list of radionuclides was selected by comprehensively considering screening criteria such as radioactivity inventory, half-life, radiotoxicity, risk quotient, and transport properties, and etc. A comparison of radionuclides included in the radiological safety assessment in both countries suggests that most of nuclides are considered in common, and a few nuclides considered only in one country are due to differences in decay chain treatment or spent fuel types. As of now, since most of information on the disposal facility in Korea has not been determined, it is necessary to comprehensively model release and transport of all radionuclides considered in Sweden and Finland when performing the radiological safety assessment. Based on these results, we derived the screening concept of selecting a list of radionuclides to be considered in the radiological safety assessment for the domestic KBS-3 type geological disposal facility, and this result is expected to be used as technical basis for confirming conformity with the safety objective. In a more detailed evaluation reflecting domestic characteristics in the future, it would be desirable to consider only radionuclides selected in accordance with the screening procedure. However, further research should be conducted to determine the quantitative limit for each criteria.

A Modified Length-Based Grading Method for Assessing Coronary Artery Calcium Severity on Non-Electrocardiogram-Gated Chest Computed Tomography: A Multiple-Observer Study

  • Suh Young Kim;Young Joo Suh;Na Young Kim;Suji Lee;Kyungsun Nam;Jeongyun Kim;Hwan Kim;Hyunji Lee;Kyunghwa Han;Hwan Seok Yong
    • Korean Journal of Radiology
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.284-293
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    • 2023
  • Objective: To validate a simplified ordinal scoring method, referred to as modified length-based grading, for assessing coronary artery calcium (CAC) severity on non-electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated chest computed tomography (CT). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 120 patients (mean age ± standard deviation [SD], 63.1 ± 14.5 years; male, 64) who underwent both non-ECG-gated chest CT and ECG-gated cardiac CT between January 2011 and December 2021. Six radiologists independently assessed CAC severity on chest CT using two scoring methods (visual assessment and modified length-based grading) and categorized the results as none, mild, moderate, or severe. The CAC category on cardiac CT assessed using the Agatston score was used as the reference standard. Agreement among the six observers for CAC category classification was assessed using Fleiss kappa statistics. Agreement between CAC categories on chest CT obtained using either method and the Agatston score categories on cardiac CT was assessed using Cohen's kappa. The time taken to evaluate CAC grading was compared between the observers and two grading methods. Results: For differentiation of the four CAC categories, interobserver agreement was moderate for visual assessment (Fleiss kappa, 0.553 [95% confidence interval {CI}: 0.496-0.610]) and good for modified length-based grading (Fleiss kappa, 0.695 [95% CI: 0.636-0.754]). The modified length-based grading demonstrated better agreement with the reference standard categorization with cardiac CT than visual assessment (Cohen's kappa, 0.565 [95% CI: 0.511-0.619 for visual assessment vs. 0.695 [95% CI: 0.638-0.752] for modified length-based grading). The overall time for evaluating CAC grading was slightly shorter in visual assessment (mean ± SD, 41.8 ± 38.9 s) than in modified length-based grading (43.5 ± 33.2 s) (P < 0.001). Conclusion: The modified length-based grading worked well for evaluating CAC on non-ECG-gated chest CT with better interobserver agreement and agreement with cardiac CT than visual assessment.

Measurement of Dose Distribution for Diagnostic X-ray (X선진단(診斷) 영역(領域)에 있어서의 심부선량분포(深部線量分布)의 측정(測定))

  • Kim, You-Hyun;Huh, Joon;Kim, Seung-Chul;Yoon, Jong-Min
    • Journal of radiological science and technology
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    • v.18 no.1
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    • pp.55-62
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    • 1995
  • This study was performed to find out dose distribution, pdd, surface dose and off center ratio. A few articles is analysis of dose data in radiotherapy field, there is no standardized measure of an assessment of exposure dose at diagnostic radiology, yet. And authors demonstrated a new assessment measure by ion chamber, TLD and film dosimetry system. We assurance that our data is useful to quantiative analysis of exposure dose and clinical fields for reduction of radiation dose.

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