Survey of occupational exposure involved in medical and industrial uses of radiation in Israel, 1991-1996

The Israel Dosimetry Center, operated by the Radiation Safety Department at Soreq NRC, serves approximately 10,000 radiation workers throughout the country. Workers in medical, educational and industrial installations are monitored monthly or bi-monthly for external ionizing radiations: X- and gamma rays, beta radiation, anti thermal and fast neutrons. Dosimetry of all but the last category is performed by TLD (Thermo Luminescence Dosimeter) badges (chest, head, hand, leg) or TLD rings. Fast neutrons exposures are measured by CR-39 track etch detector. The reporting level was 0.2 mSv/month for gamma - and X-radiation until 1993 and has been 0. 1 mSv/month since then. This document constitutes a summary of the occupational exposures (whole-body only, i.e., chest) during the period 1991-1996. Table 1 provides information on the number of monitored workers, the annual collective effective dose, and the average annual effective individual dose per monitored worker and per measurably exposed worker (above the recording level of 0.2 mSv or 0.1 mSv, respectively, at least once a year). The last two columns are the dose distribution ratios, with NR15 being the fraction of the work-force exposed annually to 15 mSv or more and MR15 the fraction of the annual collective dose delivered to this population. (authors)