Barry M. Hauck

The effect of lung deposition patterns on the activity estimate obtained from a large area germanium detector lung counter.

Lung counters for in vivo detection of low energy photon emitters are typically calibrated using phantoms containing lung tissue equivalent material with the radioactivity homogeneously distributed throughout the material. If the activity in a measurement subject is heterogeneously distributed, the activity estimate for that subject will be uncertain due to the assumptions of distribution. The magnitude of the uncertainty for a four-detector germanium array, using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory torso phantom with a newly designed lung set that allows the activity to be localized in one or more of 16 areas, was estimated. The results show that detector arrays will reduce the uncertainties arising from the geometry of the lung deposition compared to single detectors. The estimated activity of an internal deposition that emits 17.5 keV photons can be overestimated by a factor of three, or underestimated by a factor of infinity (i.e., the activity is missed completely). As the photon energy rises to 59.5 keV the uncertainty in the activity decreases so that the maximum overestimate (underestimate) will be a factor of two (five). As the energy rises to 344.3 keV only the maximum underestimate changes: it becomes a factor of three.

Comparison of the LLNL and JAERI torso phantoms using Ge detectors and phoswich detectors.

The Human Monitoring Laboratory has compared the LLNL and JAERI torso phantoms using its germanium detector lung counting system by measuring the counting efficiencies for radioactive materials in the phantoms at photon energies of 17.7 keV, 59.5 keV, 121.8 keV, and 344 keV to assess the similarity (or differences) in performance characteristics. The counting efficiencies obtained from the two phantoms were compared by converting the Chest Wall Thickness data and Adipose Mass Fractions of the phantoms to Muscle Equivalent Chest Wall Thicknesses. The counting efficiencies for the two phantoms were found to be within a factor of 1.44 of each other at 17.7 keV, 1.30 at 59.5 keV, 1.25 at 121.8 keV, and 1.17 at 344 keV when using a four detector array (JAERI efficiency divided by LLNL efficiency). However, individual detector responses show that the counting efficiencies from the two phantoms differ considerably in the region of the heart (up to a factor of 6 at 17 keV). Other areas above the lungs give counting efficiencies that are similar to each other. A routine intercomparison exercise with Cameco Corporation has shown that the counting efficiencies derived from the LLNL and JAERI phantoms were found to be within a factor of 1.18 (JAERI/LLNL) when a natural uranium lung set was used to calibrate a lung counter consisting of phoswich detectors. This work has also shown that over the energy range 63 keV-185 keV the LLNL phantom can be used to calibrate phoswich detector systems that are positioned on the back of the subject.

Chest wall thickness measurements and the dosimetric implications for male workers in the uranium industry.

The Human Monitoring Laboratory has measured the chest wall thickness and adipose mass fraction of a group of workers at a Canadian uranium refinery, a conversion plant, and a fuel fabrication site using ultrasound. A site-specific biometric equation has been developed for these workers, who seem to be somewhat larger than other workers reported in the literature. Chest wall thickness is a very important modifier on lung counting efficiency and these data have been put into the perspective of the impending Canadian dose limits that will reduce the limit of occupationally exposed workers to 100 mSv in a 5-y period with a maximum of 50 mSv in any one year. The sensitivity of the germanium and phoswich based lung counting systems have been compared. Over a range of chest wall thickness of 1.6 cm to 6.0 cm and using a 30-min counting time, the achievable MDAs lie in the range of 6.7 mg to 19.1 mg or 6.7 mg to 30 mg with a two-phoswich-detector array or a germanium lung counting system, respectively. Depending on chest wall thickness, these achievable MDAs are close to, or exceed, the predicted amounts of natural uranium that will remain in the lung (absorption type M and S) after an intake equivalent to the Annual Limit on Intake that corresponds to 20 mSv. Neither system is sufficiently sensitive to detect an intake of Type S natural uranium in a worker with a chest wall thickness that corresponds to the average (3.73 cm) if it occurred more than 7 d prior to the lung count.

Comparison of sliced and whole lung sets for the LLNL and JAERI torso phantoms using GE detectors.

The performance characteristics of sliced lung sets were compared to lung sets with activity homogeneously distributed throughout the lung tissue substitute material. The activity estimate from planar sources differs from the estimate from homogeneous sources by a factor of 0.88 to 1.09 depending on the photon energy. This error is small compared to other uncertainties commonly encountered in lung counting, i.e., activity deposition in the lung, detector placement, size difference between individuals, etc. Sliced lung sets could be used instead of homogeneous lung sets to test or provide an interim calibration for a lung counting system.

Chest wall thickness measurements of the LLNL and JAERI torso phantoms for germanium detector counting

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Japanese Atomic Energy Research Institute torso phantoms were developed to calibrate lung counting systems that are used to estimate plutonium and other radionuclides deposited in the lung. Originally, low energy photon counting systems consisted of phoswich detectors. The average chest wall thicknesses and individual measurement points of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory phantom and its overlay plates in the regions covered by these detectors were provided by the manufacturer. Germanium detectors are of a different size and are placed in different locations on the phantom so that the manufacturers data are no longer applicable for the locations of the germanium detectors on the phantom. The Human Monitoring Laboratory has re-evaluated the chest wall thickness of both the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Japanese Atomic Energy Research Institute phantoms and their overlay plates for its germanium lung counting system. The measurements were made in the upper right, lower right, upper left, and lower left positions on the phantoms torso plate above the lungs. The effective chest wall thicknesses (17 keV) for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory torso plate are 1.46 cm, 1.43 cm, 1.66 cm, 1.48 cm, respectively. The manufacturers quoted average effective chest wall thickness for a pair of phoswich detectors is 1.63 cm. The measured effective chest wall thicknesses (17 keV) for the JAERIs torso plate are 1.76 cm, 2.15 cm, 1.79 cm, 2.15 cm, respectively. The manufacturers quoted average chest wall thickness for an unspecified region of the chest is 1.50 cm. This paper presents effective chest wall thickness data for the phantoms with and without their overlay plates at 17 keV, 60 keV, 200 keV and 1,500 keV. The uncertainties involved in determining the effective chest wall thickness have shown that there is no significant difference between the effective chest wall thickness and the physical chest wall thickness.

Quantification of 235U and 238U activity concentrations for undeclared nuclear materials by a digital gamma–gamma coincidence spectroscopy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of verifying depleted uranium (DU), natural uranium (NU), low enriched uranium (LEU) and high enriched uranium (HEU) by a developed digital gamma-gamma coincidence spectroscopy. The spectroscopy consists of two NaI(Tl) scintillators and XIA LLC Digital Gamma Finder (DGF)/Pixie-4 software and card package. The results demonstrate that the spectroscopy provides an effective method of (235)U and (238)U quantification based on the count rate of their gamma-gamma coincidence counting signatures. The main advantages of this approach over the conventional gamma spectrometry include the facts of low background continuum near coincident signatures of (235)U and (238)U, less interference from other radionuclides by the gamma-gamma coincidence counting, and region-of-interest (ROI) imagine analysis for uranium enrichment determination. Compared to conventional gamma spectrometry, the method offers additional advantage of requiring minimal calibrations for (235)U and (238)U quantification at different sample geometries.

Sensitivity of portable personnel portal monitors: potential problems when dealing with contaminated persons.

Health physicists are usually concerned with small amounts of radioactivity and strive to develop techniques to measure them; however, following a terrorist attack involving radioactive materials the converse might be the case, and exposed persons may be heavily contaminated. The Human Monitoring Laboratory (HML) has field tested its Portable Personnel Portal (P3) monitors using sources up to 1,700 MBq (47 mCi) to determine the alarm distance as a function of activity. The results show that the P3 monitors are highly sensitive, so much so that siting will be a problem for multiple units if multiple alarms are to be avoided. Building materials will shield the monitors allowing units to be placed closer together than in the open where there is no shielding, but windows and doors reduce shielding and complicate the siting of multiple units. In either situation, careful prior thought should be given to siting the monitors and the logistics of crowd control techniques.

Lung counting: Summing techniques to reduce the MDA

Abstract— The new dose limits recently adopted in Canada (and elsewhere in the world) have made it more difficult to detect some radionuclides by in vivo counting at the average dose limit of 20 mSv. This is particularly true for natural uranium. Two techniques have been developed by the Human Monitoring Laboratory to reduce the Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) for the lung counting of this nuclide. The first technique, developed in collaboration with Cameco, is to either sum sequential counts of an individual or to sum spectra of a group of workers similarly occupationally exposed. This technique offers a reduction in the MDA of up to a factor of three. The second technique, developed in collaboration with CNEN, involves the summing of photopeaks within an individual spectrum and offers a reduction in the MDA of up to a factor of two.

Evaluation of a commercial software package's ability to calibrate an in vivo counter for emergency response.

AbstractA commercial detector calibration package has been assessed for its use to calibrate the Human Monitoring Laboratory’s Portable Whole Body Counter that is used for emergency response. The advantage of such a calibration software is that calibrations can be derived very quickly once the model has been designed. The commercial package’s predictions were compared to experimental point source data and to predictions from Monte Carlo simulations. It was found that the software adequately predicted the counting efficiencies of a point source geometry to values derived from Monte Carlo simulations and experimental work. Both the standing and seated counting geometries agreed sufficiently well that the commercial package could be used in the field.

A FIELD DEPLOYABLE HIGH-RESOLUTION URINE GAMMA ANALYZER

The Human Monitoring Laboratory has extended the use of its portable whole body counters to portable gamma spectrometers for urinalysis. The protocol tested measured a 120-mL sample in a polypropylene sample container for 5 min. Minimum detectable activities were estimated for 241Am, 57Co, 137Cs, and 60Co. The former is 113 Bq per sample, and the latter three are between 27–29 Bq per sample. Assuming an intake 5 d before the measurement, and all other parameters as default, the committed effective doses are 517 Sv, 76 &mgr;Sv, 402 &mgr;Sv, and 1.5 mSv, respectively. Clearly, this instrument can be used as a field deployable gamma spectrometer for urinalysis for activation and fission products, but actinides (and other low energy photon emitters) remain problematic.