Dose coefficients for intakes of radionuclides by members of the public: Part 2

Abstract

This report is the second in a series of documents giving age-dependent dose coefficients for members of the public for environmental intakes of radionuclides (EIR) by inhalation and ingestion. This series replaces the Publication 56 series of documents. The revised dose coefficients have been calculated using the Publication 100 human alimentary tract model (HATM) and the Publication 130 revision of the human respiratory tract model (HRTM). Revisions have also been made to many of the models that describe the systemic biokinetics of radionuclides absorbed to blood, making them more physiologically realistic representations of uptake and retention in organs and tissues and of excretion. Changes have been implemented that were introduced in Publication 103 to: the radiation weighting factors used in the calculation of equivalent doses to tissues; the tissue weighting factors used in the calculation of effective dose; and the separate calculation of equivalent doses to males and females with sex-averaging in the calculation of effective dose. Reference voxel anatomical computational phantoms (i.e. models of the human body based on medical imaging data), have replaced the composite mathematical models used for previous calculations of organ doses. Dose calculations were also improved by using Publication 107 updated radionuclide decay data and implementing the Publication 116 treatment of radiation transport, using the Publication 110 reference anatomical phantoms of the human body and the Publication 143 paediatric reference computational phantoms.