• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.83-91
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• 2021

Various types of high-precision radiotherapy, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), tomotherapy (Tomo), and stereotactic body radiation therapy have been available since 1997. After being covered by insurance in 2015, the number of IMRT cases rapidly increased 18-fold from 2011 to 2018 in Korea. IMRT, which uses a high-beam irradiation monitor unit, requires higher shielding conditions than conventional radiation treatments. However, to date, research on the shielding of facilities using IMRT and the current understanding of its status are insufficient, and detailed safety regulation procedures have not been established. This study investigated the recommended criteria for the shielding evaluation of facilities using medical linear accelerators (LINACs), including 1) the current status of safety management regulations and systems in domestic and international facilities using medical LINACs and 2) the current status of the recommended standards for safety management in domestic and international facilities using medical LINACs. It is necessary to develop and introduce a safety management system for facilities using LINACs for clinical applications that is suitable for the domestic medical environment and corresponds to the safety management systems for LINACs used overseas.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.7
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• pp.2732-2739
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• 2024

This study developed internal dose coefficients for radioiodine, tailored to the Korean population, by incorporating the Korean biokinetic model along with the Korean S values. The observed differences in dose coefficients for Koreans compared to the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) reference values noticeably varied depending on physical half-lives of iodine isotopes. For longer-lived isotopes such as I-125 and I-129, significant differences in thyroid dose coefficients were observed, with ratios (Korean/ICRP) from 0.30 to 0.55, indicating that actual doses for Koreans can be considerably lower than those evaluated based on the ICRP data. However, for short-lived iodine isotopes, such as I-131, the thyroid dose coefficients were comparable to the ICRP reference values (ratio = 0.95-0.98). These comparable dose coefficients resulted from the lower thyroidal iodine uptake in the Korean model being almost entirely offset by the higher thyroid self-absorption S values in the Korean phantoms. Additionally, this study delves into the substantial differences in absorbed dose coefficients for non-thyroidal regions and effective dose coefficients, which arose not only from physiological/anatomical variability but also technical differences in phantom design. The use of Korean-specific dose coefficients is advisable particularly in scenarios predicting elevated doses, yielding a more precise and clinically relevant dose assessment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2014

This paper describes the results of assessment of radiological dose resulting from operation of the Daedeok nuclear facilities including the HANARO research reactor, which has been performed to assure whether or not to comply with the regulation standards of the radioactive effluents releases. Based on the meteorological data and the radiation source term, the maximum individual doses were evaluated from 2010 to 2012. The atmospheric dispersion and the deposition factors of gaseous effluents were calculated using the XOQDOQ computer code. ENDOS-G and ENDOS-L code systems were also used for maximum individual dose calculation from gaseous and liquid effluents, respectively. The results were compared with the regulation standards for the radioactive effluents presented by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC). The effective doses and the thyroid doses of the maximum individual were calculated at the maximum exposed point in the Daedeok site, and contributions of exposure pathways to the radiological doses resulting from gaseous and liquid radioactive effluents were evaluated at each facility of the Daedeok site. As a result, the maximum exposed age was analysed to be the child group, and the operation of HANARO research reactor had a major effect more than 90% on the individual doses. The main exposure pathways for gaseous radioactive effluent were from ingestion and inhalation. The effective doses and the thyroid doses were considerably influenced by tritium and iodine, respectively. The gaseous radioactive effluents contributed more than 90% on the total doses, whereas the contributions of the liquid radioactive effluents were relatively low. Consequently, the maximum individual dose due to radioactive effluents from the nuclear facilities within the Daedeok site were less than 3% of the regulation standard over 3 years; therefore, it can be concluded that radioactive effluents from the nuclear facilities were well managed, with the radiation-induced health detriment for residents around the site being negligible.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2010

With the expanded use of radiation in modern medical practices, the most important issue in regards to efforts to reduce individual exposure dose is quality assurance. Therefore in order to study the present condition of quality assurance, the Gwangju Metropolitan City area was divided into five districts each containing ten hospitals. Four experiments were conducted: a reproducibility experiment for kVp, mA, and examination time (sec) intensity of illumination; half-value layer (HVL) measurement; and beam perpendicularity test matching experiment. The tube voltage reproducibility experiment for all fifty hospitals resulted in a 95.33% passing rate and mA and examination time both resulted in a 77.0% passing rate. The passing rate for intensity of illumination was 86.0% and 52.0% for HVL, which was the lowest passing rate of all four factors. For the beam perpendicularity test matching experiment, generally the central flux is matched to within $1.5^{\circ}$. Of all fifty hospitals 30.0% were beyond $3^{\circ}$. The results of the survey showed that 58% responded that they knew about quality assurance cycle. All fifty respondents stated that they have not received any training in regards to quality assurance at their current place of employment. Although quality assurance is making relative progress, the most urgent issue is awareness of the importance of quality assurance. Therefore, the implementation of professional training focusing on safety management and accurate quality assurance of radiation will reduce the exposure to radiation for radiologists and patients and higher quality imaging using less dosage will also be possible.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.150-158
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• 2014

Radiation-related practitioners and radiation-treated patients at medical institutions are inevitably exposed to radiation for diagnosis and treatment. Although standards for maximum doses are recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICPR) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), more direct and available measurement and analytical methods are necessary for optimal exposure management for potential exposure subjects such as practitioners and patients. Thus, in this study we developed a system for real-time radiation monitoring at a distance that works with existing portable device. The monitoring system comprises three parts for detection, imaging, and transmission. For miniaturization of the detection part, a scintillation detector was designed based on a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM). The imaging part uses a wireless charge-coupled device (CCD) camera module along with the detection part to transmit a radiation image and measured data through the transmission part using a Bluetooth-enabled portable device. To evaluate the performance of the developed system, diagnostic X-ray generators and sources of $^{137}Cs$, $^{22}Na$, $^{60}Co$, $^{204}Tl$, and $^{90}Sr$ were used. We checked the results for reactivity to gamma, beta, and X-ray radiation and determined that the error range in the response linearity is less than 3% with regard to radiation strength and in the detection accuracy evaluation with regard to measured distance using MCNPX Code. We hope that the results of this study will contribute to cost savings for radiation detection system configuration and to individual exposure management.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2020

Background: Recently, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) lowered the dose limit for the eye lens from 150 mSv to 20 mSv, highlighting the importance of accurate lens dose estimation. The ICRP reference computational phantoms used for lens dose calculation are mostly based on the data of Caucasian population, and thus might be inappropriate for Korean population. Materials and Methods: In the present study, a detailed Korean eye model was constructed by determining nine ocular dimensions using the data of Korean subjects. The developed eye model was then incorporated into the adult male and female mesh-type reference Korean phantoms (MRKPs), which were then used to calculate lens doses for photons and electrons in idealized irradiation geometries. The calculated lens doses were finally compared with those calculated with the ICRP mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) to observe the effect of ethnic difference on lens dose. Results and Discussion: The lens doses calculated with the MRKPs and the MRCPs were not much different for photons for the entire energy range considered in the present study. For electrons, the differences were generally small, but exceptionally large differences were found at a specific energy range (0.5-1 MeV), the maximum differences being about 10 times at 0.6 MeV in the anteroposterior geometry; the differences are mainly due to the difference in the depth of the lens between the MRCPs and the MRKPs. Conclusion: The MRCPs are generally considered acceptable for lens dose calculations for Korean population, except for the electrons at the energy range of 0.5-1 MeV for which it is suggested to use the MRKPs incorporating the Korean eye model developed in the present study.

• 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.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.96-102
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• 2012

International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has revised its recommendations concerning the tissue reaction to ionizing radiation in accordance with consideration of the detriment arising from non-cancer effects of radiation on health based on recent epidemiological basis. Particularly, for the lens of the eye, the threshold in absorbed dose revised to be 0.5 Gy, for occupational exposure in planned exposure situation the commission recommended "An equivalent dose limit for the lens of the eye of 20 mSv in a year, averaged over defined periods of 5 years, with no single year exceeding 50 mSv." To monitor the radiation exposure of radiation worker, TLD is typically provided and the lens of eye dose can be assessed by run of dose calculation algorithm with TL element response data. This study is to assess equivalent dose of the lens of eye using the Harshaw TLD system and its two different dose calculation algorithms. The result provides the Harshaw TLD system showed the assessment of the lens of eye dose with 48.84% error range.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.129-136
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• 2009

During the maintenance period at Korean nuclear power plants, internal exposure of radiation workers occurred by the inhalation of $^{131}I$ released to the reactor building when primary system opened. The internal radioactivity of radiation workers contaminated by $^{131}I$ was measured using a whole body counter. Intake estimation and the calculation of committed effective dose were also conducted conforming to the guidance of internal dose assessments from publications of International Commission on Radiological Protection. Because the uptake and excretion of $^{131}I$ in a body occur quickly and $^{131}I$ is accumulated in the thyroid gland, the estimated intakes showed differences depending on the counting time after intake. In addition, since ICRP publications do not provide the intake retention fraction (IRF) for whole body of $^{131}I$, the IRF for thyroid was substitutionally used to calculate the intake and subsequently this caused more error in intake estimation. Thus, intake estimation and the calculation of committed effective dose were conducted by manual calculation. In this study, the IRF for whole body was also calculated newly and was verified. During this process, the estimated intake and committed effective dose were reviewed and compared using several computer codes for internal dosimetry.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.159-167
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• 2014

In Korea, July 2012, the law as called 'Act on Safety Control of Radioactive Rays Around Living Environment' was implemented to control the consumer product containing Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM), but, there are no appropriate database and effective dose calculation system. The aim of this study was to develop evaluation technique of the exposure dose with the use of the consumer products containing NORM and to understand the characteristics of the exposed dose according to the radiation type and energy. For the evaluate of exposure dose, the ICRP reference phantom was simulated by the MCNPX code based on Monte Carlo method, and the minimum, medium, maximum energy of alphas, betas, gammas from the representative NORM of Uranium decay series were used as the source term in the simulation. The annual effective doses were calculated by the exposure scenario of the consumer product usage time and position. Short range of the alpha and beta rays are mostly delivered the dose to the skin. On the other hand, the gamma rays mostly delivered the similar dose to all of the organs. The results of the annual effective dose with $1Bq{\cdot}g^{-1}$ radioactive stone-bed and 10% radioactive concentration were employed with the usage time of 7 hours 50 minute per day, the maximum annual effective dose of alphas, betas, gammas were calculated 0.0222, 0.0836, $0.0101mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$, respectively.