title: Individual monitoring for internal contamination with plutonium compounds at JAEA-NCL.
abstract: This paper provides an outline of an individual monitoring programme for internal contamination with Pu compounds and some of the knowledge obtained from experience of inhalation incidents that occurred over the past few decades at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories (JAEA-NCL). Most of the incidents resulted in minor exposure doses, being an average of 0.1 mSv at a mixed oxide plant and 1.5 mSv at a reprocessing plant. Only two incidents involving three workers resulted in exposure over the regulatory dose limits of that time. The maximum exposure dose, an effective dose equivalent of 90 mSv, was assessed for a worker involved in the incident that took place at the reprocessing plant in 1993. Only faecal measurements have been used in final dose assessments because alternative monitoring data have rarely been available. Further investigations on the physicochemical properties specific to Pu compounds in workplaces have therefore been needed to improve not only the accuracy of internal dose assessments but also the nasal swab method useful in deciding medical intervention.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Protection Department, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Engineering Laboratories, Tokai Research and Development Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 4-33, Muramatsu, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki 319-1194, Japan. kurihara.osamu@jaea.go.jp
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: Katsuta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanai
mesh_terms: D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects*; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011005:Plutonium / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000652:urine; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D011005:Plutonium