Effects of irradiation on the urine absorbance

Changes in the absorbance of the urine on exposure to radiation were studied in view of a potential use of urine as a rapid biological dosemeter in emergency situations. In the presence of ferrous sulphate, the absorbance of urine exposed to doses of 1 Gy or higher was higher than that of non-irradiated urine; this effect increased with increasing doses. At doses up to 20 Gy, absorbance changed by 0.3 to 0.8 (for wave lengths corresponding to the red to violet colour). The differences between different urine specimens, however, are so high (on the order of magnitude of tens per cent) that the method can only be used as a qualitative indicator of urine irradiation; the dose received cannot be calculated from the observed data. (orig.)