title: Use of air monitoring and experimental aerosol data for intake assessment for Mayak plutonium workers.
abstract: One of the major uncertainties in reconstructing doses to Mayak Plutonium (Pu) workers is the unknown exposure patterns experienced by individuals. These uncertainties include the amounts of Pu inhaled, the temporal exposure pattern of Pu air concentration, the particle-size distribution and solubility of the inhaled aerosols. To date, little individual and workplace-specific information has been used to assess these parameters for the Mayak workforce. However, extensive workplace-specific alpha activity air monitoring data set has been collated, which, if coupled with individual occupational histories, can potentially provide customised intake scenarios for individual Mayak workers. The most available Pu air concentration data are annual averages, which exist for over 100 defined work stations at radiochemical and chemical-metallurgical manufacturing facilities and basically for the whole period of Mayak production operations. Much sparser but more accurate data on Pu concentrations in workers' breathing zone are available for some major workplaces and occupations. The latter demonstrate that within a working shift, Pu concentrations varied over a range of several orders of magnitude depending on the nature of the operations performed. An approach to use the collated data set for individual intake reconstruction is formulated and its practical application is demonstrated. Initial results of ongoing experimental study on historic particle size at Mayak PA and their implications for intake estimation are presented.
authors.affiliation: Southern Urals Biophysics Institute, 19, Ozyorsk road, Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk region, 456780 Russia. zaytseva@fib.ozersk.ru
authors.forename: Yekaterina V
authors.initials: YV
authors.lastname: Zaytseva
authors.forename: Fyodor D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Tretyakov
authors.forename: Sergey A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Romanov
authors.forename: Guthrie
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Luiz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bertelli
authors.forename: Raymond A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Guilmette
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D001822:Body Burden; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D008954:Models, Biological; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D014586:USSR; D014915:Whole-Body Counting / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive