• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Low-dose radiation exposure has received considerable attention because it reflects the general public's type and level of exposure. Still, controversy remains due to the relatively unclear results and uncertainty in risk estimation compared to high-dose radiation. However, recent epidemiological studies report direct evidence of health effects for various types of low-dose radiation exposure. In particular, international nuclear workers' studies, CT exposure studies, and children's cancer studies on natural radiation showed significantly increased cancer risk among the study populations despite their low-dose radiation exposure. These studies showed similar results even when the cumulative radiation dose was limited to an exposure group of less than 100 mGy, demonstrating that the observed excess risk was not affected by high exposure. A linear dose-response relationship between radiation exposure and cancer incidence has been observed, even at the low-dose interval. These recent epidemiological studies include relatively large populations, and findings are broadly consistent with previous studies on Japanese atomic bomb survivors. However, the health effects of low-dose radiation are assumed to be small compared to the risks that may arise from other lifestyle factors; therefore, the benefits of radiation use should be considered at the individual level through a balanced interpretation. Further low-dose radiation studies are essential to accurately determining the benefits and risks of radiation.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.6-11
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• 2010

Embodying the safety of radioactive waste disposal requires the relevant safety criteria and the corresponding stylized methods to demonstrate its compliance with the criteria. This paper proposes a conceptual model of risk-based safety evaluation for integrating complex potential radiation exposure situations in radioactive waste disposal. For demonstrating compliance with a risk constraint, the approach deals with important exposure scenarios from the viewpoint of the receptor to estimate the resulting risk. For respective exposure situations, it considers the occurrence probabilities of the relevant exposure scenarios as their probability of giving rise to doses to estimate the total risk to a representative person by aggregating the respective risks. In this model, an exposure scenario is simply constructed with three components:radionuclide release, radionuclide migration and environment contamination, and interaction between the contaminated media and the receptor. A set of exposure scenarios and the representative person are established from reasonable combinations of the components, based on a balance of their occurrence probabilities and the consequences. In addition, the probability of an exposure scenario is estimated on the assumption that the initiating external factors influence release mechanisms and transport pathways, and its effect on the interaction between the environment and the receptor may be covered in terms of the representative person. This integrated approach enables a systematic risk assessment for complex exposure situations of radioactive waste disposal and facilitates the evaluation of compliance with risk constraints.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.205-211
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• 2017

Background: Radiation is used in a variety of areas, but it also poses potential risks. Although radiation is often used with great effectiveness in many applications, people perceive potential risks associated with radiation and feel anxious about the possibility of radiation exposure. Various methods of measuring radiation doses have been developed, but there is no way for the general public to measure their doses with ease. Currently, many people use smartphones, which provide information about the location of an individual phone through network connections. If a smartphone application could be developed for measuring radiation dosage, it would be a very effective way to measure individuals' radiation doses. Thus, we conducted a survey study to assess the social acceptance of such a technology by the general public and their intent to use that technology to measure radiation doses, as well as to investigate whether such an intention is correlated with anxiety and attitudes toward the use of radiation. Materials and Methods: A nationwide online survey was conducted among 355 Koreans who were 20 years old or older. Results and Discussion: Significant differences were found between the genders in attitudes, perceptions of radiation risk, and fears of exposure to radiation. However, a significant difference according to age was observed only in the intent to use a smartphone dose measurement application. Attitudes towards the use of radiation exerted a negative effect on radiation risk perception and exposure anxiety, whereas attitudes towards the use of radiation, risk perception, and anxiety about exposure were found to have a positive impact on the intent to use a smartphone application for dose measurements. Conclusion: A survey-based study was conducted to investigate how the general public perceives radiation and to examine the acceptability of a smartphone application as a personal dose monitoring device. If such an application is developed, it could be used not only to monitor an individual's dose, but also to contribute to radiation safety information infrastructure by mapping radiation in different areas, which could be utilized as a useful basis for radiation research.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.90-99
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• 2023

Background: Quantitative risk assessments should be accompanied by uncertainty analyses of the risk models employed in the calculations. In this study, we aim to develop a computational code named SUMRAY for use in cancer risk projections from radiation exposure taking into account uncertainties. We also aim to make SUMRAY publicly available as a resource for further improvement of risk projection. Materials and Methods: SUMRAY has two versions of code written in R and Python. The risk models used in SUMRAY for all-solid-cancer mortality and incidence were those published in the Life Span Study of a cohort of the atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The confidence intervals associated with the evaluated risks were derived by propagating the statistical uncertainties in the risk model parameter estimates by the Monte Carlo method. Results and Discussion: SUMRAY was used to calculate the lifetime or time-integrated attributable risks of cancer under an exposure scenario (baseline rates, dose[s], age[s] at exposure, age at the end of follow-up, sex) specified by the user. The results were compared with those calculated using another well-known web-based tool, Radiation Risk Assessment Tool (RadRAT; National Institutes of Health), and showed a reasonable agreement within the estimated confidential interval. Compared with RadRAT, SUMRAY can be used for a wide range of applications, as it allows the risk projection with arbitrarily specified risk models and/or population reference data. Conclusion: The reliabilities of SUMRAY with the present risk-model parameters and their variance-covariance matrices were verified by comparing them with those of the other codes. The SUMRAY code is distributed to the public as an open-source code under the Massachusetts Institute of Technology license.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2021

Background: For radiological protection and control, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) provides the nominal risk coefficients related to radiation exposure, which can be extrapolated using the excess relative risk and excess absolute risk obtained from the Life Span Study of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the dose and dose-rate effectiveness factor (DDREF). Materials and Methods: Since it is impossible to directly estimate the radiation risk at doses less than approximately 100 mSv only from epidemiological knowledge and data, support from radiation biology is absolutely imperative, and thus, several national and international bodies have advocated the importance of bridging knowledge between biology and epidemiology. Because of the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011, the exposure of the public to radiation has become a major concern and it was considered that the estimation of radiation risk should be more realistic to cope with the prevailing radiation exposure situation. Results and Discussion: To discuss the issues from wide aspects related to radiological protection, and to realize bridging knowledge between biology and epidemiology, we have established a research group to develop low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation risk estimation methodology, with the permission of the Japan Health Physics Society. Conclusion: The aim of the research group was to clarify the current situation and issues related to the risk estimation of low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation exposure from the viewpoints of different research fields, such as epidemiology, biology, modeling, and dosimetry, to identify a future strategy and roadmap to elucidate a more realistic estimation of risk against low-dose and low-dose-rate radiation exposure.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.516-524
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• 2015

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the current status of knowledge, awareness and health risk concerns on occupational radiation exposures among firefighters in Korea. The results will provide basic information for developing a prevention program to minimize adverse health effects relating to radiation exposure among firefighters. Methods: A questionnaire was composed of general characteristics of participants, and their knowledge, awareness, health risk concerns relating to occupational radiation exposure. It was distributed by email to all of 307 firefighters in Jeollabukdo in April 2014 and 259 of them (response rate 84.3%) were responded. Answers were analyzed for descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentages. SPSS/WIN 18.0 program was utilized for statistical analysis of t-test, ANOVA and Pearson's correlation. Results: The average score of radiation protection knowledge was $5.83{\pm}1.77$ ($average{\pm}SD$) out of 10. The score of awareness and health risk concerns on radiation exposure were 4.27, 3.94 out of 5, respectively. The results indicated that the knowledge on the characteristics of radiation was marginal among the firefighters, while the awareness and health risk concerns relating to radiation exposures were relatively higher comparing to other professions. Conclusions: Knowing the characteristics of potential risks is the first step for minimizing the adverse health effects relating to the risks. Therefore, it is necessary to provide adequate training and information on radiation and exposure protection methods for firefighters.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2016

Radiographs can help in the diagnosis and treatment planning, but the exposure to ionizing radiation may elevate the risk of developing cancer in a person's lifetime. The objective of this review is to briefly summarize 1) radiation risk, especially cancer risks associated with diagnostic imaging, 2) linear, non-threshold (LNT) hypothesis, 3) the risks of radiation exposure to a fetus, and 4) the campaign of Image Gently. The individual risk of radiation-related cancer from any single medical imaging procedure is extremely small and it is not likely to be cancer risk at doses lower than 100 mGy, but patients may be harmed by avoiding diagnostic imaging due to fear of radiation hazard. Dentists need to understand the radiation doses delivered by various radiographic techniques and the acceptable exposure thresholds to effectively advise the patient and to reduce the unnecessary radiation

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.6-9
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• 2011

Examples and experiences of risk management on radiation under prolonged exposure situation are shown. The accident of the Fukushima dai-ichi nuclear power plant after the great east Japan earthquake (11 March, 2011) elevates background level of environmental radiation around the east Japan. For example, ambient dose equivalent rate around Tohkatsu area next to Tokyo located about 200 km-south from the plant, is about 0.1-0.6 micro-Sv $h^{-1}$ mainly due to $^{134}Cs$ and $^{137}Cs$ falling on the ground soil. This level is about double or up to ten times higher than the genuine natural level around the area. International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommends how to face the existing exposure situation; that is the prolonged exposure situation. Referring to ICRP's reports and/or related international/domestic documents, we have been discussing how to manage this situation and acting to gain safety and relief of public, who have a possibility to be exposed to prolonged lower-dose radiation. Here, we introduce our several experiences on risk management, especially focusing on risk communication, radiation education to public, and stakeholder involvements into decision making in local governments on radiation protection, relating to the accident.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.33-36
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• 2012

Examples and experiences of risk management on radiation under prolonged exposure situation are shown. The accident of the Fukushima dai-ichi nuclear power plant after the great east Japan earthquake (11 March, 2011) elevates background level of environmental radiation around the east Japan. For example, ambient dose equivalent rate around Tohkatsu area next to Tokyo located about 200 km-south from the plant, is about 0.1-0.6 micro-Sv $h^{-1}$ mainly due to $^{134}Cs$ and $^{137}Cs$ falling on the ground soil. This level is about double or up to ten times higher than the genuine natural level around the area. International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommends how to face the existing exposure situation; that is the prolonged exposure situation. Referring to ICRP's reports and/or related international/domestic documents, we have been discussing and acting to gain public's safety and relief, who have a possibility to be exposed to prolonged lower-dose radiation. Here, we introduce our several experiences on risk management, especially focusing on risk communication, radiation education to public, and stakeholder involvements into making decision in local governments on radiation protection, relating to the accident.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2022

C-arm fluoroscopy is a useful tool for interventional pain management. However, with the increasing use of C-arm fluoroscopy, the risk of accumulated radiation exposure is a significant concern for pain physicians. Therefore, efforts are needed to reduce radiation exposure. There are three types of radiation exposure sources: (1) the primary X-ray beam, (2) scattered radiation, and (3) leakage from the X-ray tube. The major radiation exposure risk for most medical staff members is scattered radiation, the amount of which is affected by many factors. Pain physicians can reduce their radiation exposure by use of several effective methods, which utilize the following main principles: reducing the exposure time, increasing the distance from the radiation source, and radiation shielding. Some methods reduce not only the pain physician's but also the patient's radiation exposure. Taking images with collimation and minimal use of magnification are ways to reduce the intensity of the primary X-ray beam and the amount of scattered radiation. It is also important to carefully select the C-arm fluoroscopy mode, such as pulsed mode or low-dose mode, for ensuring the physician's and patient's radiation safety. Pain physicians should practice these principles and also be aware of the annual permissible radiation dose as well as checking their radiation exposure. This article aimed to review the literature on radiation safety in relation to C-arm fluoroscopy and provide recommendations to pain physicians during C-arm fluoroscopy-guided interventional pain management.