title: Fundamental uncertainties in lung counting.
abstract: The HML has investigated the effect the uncertainty introduced into an activity estimate from a lung count due to 1) replicate counts and 2) lung set variability. Replicate counts in the HML seem to only be affected by random statistics as the uncertainty can be predicted by Monte Carlo simulations. These findings from the lung set variability experiments suggest that a lung set has an unquantified uncertainty on its activity that adds a component to the uncertainty on the counting efficiency, and ultimately the activity estimate, as they can differ by as much as 30% at 17.5 keV or about 13% at 185.7 keV, when one is expecting only a 3% difference.
authors.affiliation: Human Monitoring Laboratory, Radiation Surveillance and Health Assessment Division, Radiation Protection Bureau, 775 Brookfield Road, PL6302D1, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 1C1. gary_h_kramer@hc-sc.gc.ca
authors.forename: Gary H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Barry M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hauck
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D001822:Body Burden; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity