STUDIES ON THE BIOLOGICAL HALF-LIVES OF 3 RADIONUCLIDES RELEASED IN NUCLEAR-POWER REACTOR OPERATIONS

The four important parameters involved in the calculation of internal radiation dose to the human body, per unit intake of a radionuclide ar e 1) weight and size of the body organs; 2) the biological (retention) half-life of the radionuclide; 3) radiation weighting factors for the type of radiations emanating from the radionuclide; and 4) the organ weighting factors for the organs being irradiated (target organs). Whe reas, for a particular radionuclide, the radiation weighting factor an d the organ weighting factors may remain constant for all humans, the other two parameters, namely, the organ weights and biological half-li fe, are population specific and may differ from one population group t o another. For a realistic dose estimation, the population specific da ta on organ weights and biological half-lives for various radionuclide s therefore, are needed.