Analysis of recommended thresholds for medical evaluation in cases of radionuclide intakes

Abstract

Abstract Literature presents different thresholds for evaluation intended for screening people who may need additional medical assistance in cases of radionuclide intakes. There are thresholds based on the committed effective dose (CED), as well as thresholds based on the relative biological effectiveness-weighted absorbed dose (ADT) in the bone marrow and lungs. As in some emergency exposure scenarios with radionuclide intakes the risk for stochastic effects may be low whereas the threshold for deterministic effects may be exceeded, the aim of this analysis was to evaluate and to present the most appropriated threshold for each exposure scenario of interest. The results show that even adopting CED of 100 mSv as threshold for medical evaluation, it is important to screen for tissue reactions because in some scenarios the adopted threshold for deterministic effects is reached whilst the CED is below the adopted threshold value for stochastic effects.