The work of the Board's low-background laboratory

A description is given of some of the work being undertaken using the National Radiological Protection Board's new low-background facilities. In vivo body monitoring is carried out following requests from users of unsealed radioactive materials anxious about accidental intakes, and an exploratory series of measurements is being undertaken to establish how representative these requests are. A realistic and robust chest phantom is being developed to facilitate calibration and comparisons between laboratories of measurements of low-energy photon emitters such as plutonium. An intercomparison of the determination of uranium in lung is being organised. Studies of the retention and translocation of radioactivity in animals and in man use the detector systems. Environmental monitoring of a wide range of materials provides data for the calculation of dose commitments to the public in the UK. Complex radiochemical procedures are often required. There is considerable international interest in devising a radiation protection standard for building materials, and systematic measurements are being completed of the potassium, radium and thorium contents of established building materials. It is anticipated that increasing interest in the effects of the nuclear power programme will require the evaluation of long-lived radionuclides in various environmental media. (U.K.)