Radioactive Aerosols - Aerosols: Measurement, Dosimetry, and Health Effects - page 412

• For hundreds of miners, direct measurements of activity (dose) in lungs were provided.

• By making around 300 measurements of the activity of radon progeny in the lungs of min-

ers and a similar number of measurements of the concentration in the breathing zone, FAL
was established for different physical activities (group of miners).

In the Tadjikistan study by dividing all mines into two categories, with an average annual concen-
tration q < APC and q > APC, another goal was achieved.
In the control group, three categories of miners were included

1. Men older than 19 year from all cities of Tadjikistan

2. The same age nonminers from miner settlements

3. Miners who worked in mines with concentrations of the irst group

All these three groups had very close mortality rates. One can suggest that smoking habits of groups 1
and 2 are different from miners. But it is likely that smoking habits for miners who work in mines with
high radon concentrations are similar to those of miners who work in mines with lower concentrations.
Comparison of lung cancer for miners in high and low radon concentration mines thus allows the
estimation of mortality as a function of cumulative exposure.
This chapter focuses on the importance of correct dosimetry, that is, measurement or calculation
of dose factors with a critical assessment of uncertainty in measurement or calculation.
It focuses on dosimetry even in a broader sense, particularly on how values measurable in real
mining conditions (in the case of miners, concentration of Rn and its decay product, or calculated
exposure) are related to the main physical factor that determines the radiation damage to the lung-
absorbed dose. It especially focuses on what kind of propagation errors occur, and what kinds of
measures and methods can be used to diminish uncertainty in the dose, which makes data of risk
assessment unreliable.
It seems to us that, based on the data and ideas presented in this chapter, some review of the data
in epidemiological studies, including Lubin (1994), should be made:

• Try to ind some additional data on concentration and mortality among different groups

of miners.

• Try to achieve more reliable data in the risk assessment (optimal value of σ R ) by choosing

groups of miners with more reliable dosimetry.

NOMENCLATURE
A i activity in the lung, i = α, β, γ (Bq)

D integral absorbed dose (erg; g rad)

D/m absorbed dose (rad)

e detection eficiency registration for the decay products

I intake (rate of intake) (Bq/s)

k retention coeficient ( k )

m mass of the lung (g)

q i radon decay products concentration, i = a , b , c (Bq/m 3 )

v rate of inhalation (m 3 /s)

η i degree of equilibrium of radon progeny, i = a , b , c

REFERENCES
Alterman, A.D., The problems of radiation hygiene in underground nonuranium mines, Candidate's disserta-
tion, Institute of Hygiene and Professional Diseases, Medical Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia,
USSR, 1974 (in Russian).