Radiation protection infrastructure-challenges in developing countries.

A special session was held in the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA15) Congress to address the particular challenges facing developing countries regarding radiation protection infrastructure. The objective was to identify and share the key challenges facing developing countries regarding the ability to introduce and establish effective radiation protection programmes. The experiences of key international organisations (International Atomic Energy Agency, Pan American Health Organisation and World Health Organisation) that have support programmes were discussed, along with a perspective from several countries with developing programmes. The key common challenges include: governmental commitment at senior levels, with provision of the necessary resources: establishment of an independent regulatory body and related infrastructure: appropriate numbers of qualified staff in all necessary fields, including their education and training: supporting physical infrastructure, such as dosimetry and measurement equipment including calibration laboratories. In addressing these challenges the importance of support from the key international organisations was emphasised. More emphasis should be given to the application of the graded approach. The establishment of support networks at a national or regional level that allow for the sharing of experiences and resources, and that support the wellbeing of isolated professionals, is also crucial. In this aspect the support from wider professional bodies such as IRPA and established national radiation protection societies can also play a key role.

EURADOS intercomparison on emergency radiobioassay.

Nine laboratories participated in an intercomparison exercise organised by the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) for emergency radiobioassay involving four high-risk radionuclides ((239)Pu, (241)Am, (90)Sr and (226)Ra). Diverse methods of analysis were used by the participating laboratories for the in vitro determination of each of the four radionuclides in urine samples. Almost all the methods used are sensitive enough to meet the requirements for emergency radiobioassay derived for this project in reference to the Clinical Decision Guide introduced by the NCRP. Results from most of the methods meet the requirements of ISO 28218 on accuracy in terms of relative bias and relative precision. However, some technical gaps have been identified. For example, some laboratories do not have the ability to assay samples containing (226)Ra, and sample turnaround time would be expected to be much shorter than that reported by many laboratories, as timely results for internal contamination and early decisions on medical intervention are highly desired. Participating laboratories are expected to learn from each other on the methods used to improve the interoperability among these laboratories.

Radiation protection for pregnant workers and their offspring: a recommended approach for monitoring.

Radiation protection of pregnant workers and their offspring is an issue that has been referenced in the literature by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other international institutions. Several documents of the ICRP address the issue of the protection of the pregnant workers. The new ICRP recommendations refer to the control of working conditions of a pregnant worker, after declaration of pregnancy, such that it is unlikely that the additional dose to the fetus will exceed about 1 mSv during the remainder of pregnancy. The IAEA Basic Safety Standards present similar recommendations. The IAEA is preparing a technical document that provides guidance on these issues.

Results of IAEA intercomparisons in the frame of indirect methods for assessing intakes of radionuclides.

The IAEA safety activities to support the assessment of occupational exposure due to intake of radionuclides through a comprehensive set of Safety Guides, Safety Reports and other documents will soon be completed. The future IAEA activities in this field will focus more on training and international intercomparisons. In recent years extensive development in measurement techniques, phantoms and computational tools have occurred. Determination of the radionuclide activity in the body or excreta, the intake and the resulting internal dose can, therefore, be approached in many different ways, depending on the amount and quality of the data, the skill of the dosimetrist, computational tools available, the assumptions made and the methodology used. Thus, it is important for laboratories involved in internal dosimetry to undergo performance-testing procedures to demonstrate the correctness of the methods applied and also the consistency of their results with those obtained by other laboratories. Several intercomparison exercises were organized by the IAEA on the determination of radionuclides in human urine samples. These previous intercomparison exercises revealed significant differences in the approaches, methods and assumptions, and consequently in the results. This underlined the importance of this kind of intercomparison programmes as a key element of the harmonization process. The purpose of this paper is to present the current and future IAEA activities in support of assessment of occupational exposure due to intakes of radionuclides by organizing intercomparison runs focused on indirect methods for assessing intakes as well as the recommendations for setting up a Quality Management Systems for technical services in radiation safety.