Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
15.10.4 Quality of Dosimetry and the Risk Assessment for Miners: Some Aspects
of the Comparison of a “Joint Analysis of 11 Underground Miners Studies”
and a Study of Nonuranium Miners in Tadjikistan .............................................. 410
Nomenclature ................................................................................................................................. 412
References...................................................................................................................................... 412
15.1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The existing lung cancer risk estimates and guidelines for exposure to radon, both occupationally
and in the home, are based on the cancer experience of miners in underground mines. Here, we
explain how and why we arrived at the conclusion that it is very useful to discuss radioactive aero-
sols, as our experience in mines in Tadjikistan relates to the validity of the existing values of risk
that are adopted by many countries.
The details of the work presented show the progress made to better evaluate the actual exposure of
miners to radon and its decay products. Originally, much effort was made to measure and characterize
the air concentrations in mines. Many of the characterization techniques were developed at the Aerosol
Laboratory in Moscow. These are described in later sections. A method was developed to measure the
radioactivity content of the miners' lungs directly, and it was shown that measured air concentrations
alone did not accurately describe a miner's exposure. Ultimately, the direct measurements in the lungs
could be correlated with health effects, and this is the fundamental reason for this study.
15.2 AEROSOL LABORATORY OF THE ALL-UNION INSTITUTE
OF PHYSICO-TECHNICAL AND RADIOTECHNICAL
INSTITUTE (VNIIFTRI) IN MOSCOW (FORMER USSR)
I am a nuclear physicist by training. For most of my professional life in the former Soviet Union,
nearly 20 years, I worked as the Chairman of the Laboratory of Aerosols in one of the main Soviet
Metrological Centers in Moscow, the VNIIFTRI.
The primary goal of the laboratory was to develop the metrological basis for the measurement of
aerosol parameters, both radioactive and nonradioactive. As a result of this work, lasting approxi-
mately 15 years, the State Standard on Aerosols, which consisted of a facility for the generation of
stable aerosols and precision measurement techniques for measuring its parameters, was developed
and oficially approved by the Committee of Standards of the USSR. This facility allowed highly
accurate measurements of
•
The concentration of radioactive aerosols, both natural and artiicial
•
The particle size distribution in all particle size ranges
•
The electrical parameters of aerosol particles
A secondary goal of this laboratory was to test the methods developed in the laboratory for mea-
surement of the concentration of radon decay products in mine atmospheres and to develop a direct
measurement of the activity (dose) levels in the lungs of miners under actual mining conditions.
The metrological part of the work demanded a careful consideration and quantitative assessment
of every source of error (uncertainty) and methods to calculate the total error. By deinition, the
error (uncertainty) should be a small fraction of the value of interest itself.
15.3 REPORTED UNCERTAINTIES IN THE EXPOSURE
OF MINERS (SOME BEIR VI REMARKS)
If we follow the typical path of metrology, that is, carefully assess every uncertainty in each step
from the air concentration measured using standard procedures to the activity (dose) of individuals
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