32P measurement and dose conversion factor evaluation of activated human hair by criticality accident

In order to conduct dose assessment of victims in criticality accidents, a method of fast neutron capture-activated 32P measurement of hair in which samples are treated by a chemical and analytical procedure that takes 9 h and measurement is conducted by liquid scintillation counting is presented. To validate this measurement method, hair samples spiked with a 32P reference source were measured and the results analysed and the optimal sample mass and detection efficiency were determined. To verify the correlation between 32P-specific activity and absorbed dose for spectra with two neutron mean energies, samples collected from three normal individuals were irradiated at various neutron energies and irradiation times using the MC50 Cyclotron of the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences. The 32P-specific activity trend of the irradiated hair agreed well with the absorbed doses. Based on the results, dose conversion factors, which were 0.67±0.15 and 0.59±0.06 Gy (Bq g-1)-1 at neutron mean energies of 2.33 and 5.36 MeV, respectively, were calculated as a guide for medical treatment of criticality accident victims. In this study, a method for measuring 32P changes activated by the neutron irradiation of hair samples of criticality accident victims was developed and tested. In addition, a dose conversion factor for two neutron mean energy spectra based on these measurement results was developed. These results agree well with measured absorbed doses from exposure to fast neutron fields. The advantage of the proposed activated hair analysis method based on liquid scintillation counting is that it enables the acquisition of dose information from victims in a short time and with relatively high detection efficiency. In addition, sampling of hair is simpler than it is for other biological samples, and, finally, the conversion factor the authors developed using hair analysis data will be useful for dose assessment in real cases. However, the relation between dose and 32P-specific activity depends fundamentally on neutron spectrum information, and therefore, in order to accurately evaluate dosing in criticality accidents that may occur at different nuclear sites, conversion factors for all neutron energy spectra must be established. In addition, hair analysis can be performed only for local dose estimation. The incident direction of the top or side of phantom according to the neutron irradiation geometry must also be studied against various accident conditions. Correspondingly, in future research, the authors will augment the hair analysis method developed here by performing comprehensive dose assessment using Na activation analysis of blood samples. (authors)