NIST EVALUATES RADIATION ACCIDENT BIODOSIMETRY.NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. will assist in validating a dosimetric study of a large-scale radiation accident in the former Soviet Union. This study aims to better define the health effects of radiation exposure. From 1949 to 1956, the first Russian industrial nuclear facility, Mayak, poured about 7.6 X [10.sup.7] [m.sup.3] of liquid radioactive waste with total activity of 1017 Bq (2.7 X [10.sup.6] Ci) into the Techa river. The [Sr.sup.90] contribution to the total activity was 11.6%. Among all radio-nuclides released from anthropogenic an·thro·po·gen·ic adj. 1. Of or relating to anthropogenesis. 2. Caused by humans: anthropogenic degradation of the environment. sources, [Sr.sup.90] provides one of the most significant health hazards to humans. The residents of the villages along the Techa river were exposed to both external irradiation (from contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. river water, sediments, flood-plane soils) and internal irradiation due to ingestion ingestion /in·ges·tion/ (-chun) the taking of food, drugs, etc., into the body by mouth. in·ges·tion n. 1. The act of taking food and drink into the body by the mouth. 2. of radionuclides from dietary intake. The most critical unknown in the Techa river dose reconstruction data is the external dose contribution. The only reliable method of reconstructing the external component to the total dose is electron paramagnetic resonance electron paramagnetic resonance: see magnetic resonance. (EPR EPR Electron Paramagnetic Resonance EPR Extended Producer Responsibility EPR Electronic Patient Record(s) EPR Emergency Preparedness and Response (US DHS) EPR Endpoint Reference EPR Ethylene-Propylene Rubber ) spectrometry of teeth. The EPR method can reconstruct the total (internal plus external) radiation dose accumulated in dental tissues. This information is then combined with knowledge of the internal component in order to separate the external dose contribution on an individual basis. Dental tissues from members of this population have been archived and will be sent to NIST for analysis by EPR spectrometry. The NIST study should provide an independent source of data that can be used to validate this large-scale epidemiological study. These data also will be used to validate current radiation protection standards and practices. |
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