• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.689-700
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• 2022

In the present study, iodine-131 S values (r_T ← thyroid) were calculated for 30 target organs and tissues using the most recently developed Korean reference computational phantoms. The calculated S values were then compared with those of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) reference computational phantoms to investigate the dosimetric impact of the Korean S values against those of the ICRP reference phantoms. The results showed significant differences in the S values due to the different anatomical/morphological characteristics between the Korean and ICRP reference phantoms. Most target organs/tissues showed that the S values of the Korean reference phantoms are lower than those of the ICRP reference phantoms, by up to about 4 times (male spleen and female thymus). Exceptionally, three target organs/tissues (gonads, thyroid, and extrathoracic region) showed that the S values of the Korean reference phantoms are greater, by 1.5-3.7 times. We expect that the S values calculated in the present study will be beneficially used to estimate organ/tissue doses of Korean patients under radioiodine therapy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2012

The objective of this study is for development of the reference Korean female phantom, HDRK-Woman. The phantom was constructed by adjusting a Korean woman voxel phantom to the Reference Korean data. The Korean woman phantom had been developed based on the high-resolution color slice images obtained from an adult Korean female cadaver. There were a total of 39 organs including the 27 organs specified in ICRP 103 for effective dose calculation. The voxel resolution of the phantom was $1.976{\times}1.976{\times}2.0619\;mm^3$ and the voxel array size is $261{\times}109{\times}825$ in the x, y and z directions. Then, the voxel resolution was changed to $2.0351{\times}2.0351{\times}2.0747\;mm^3$ for adjustment of the height and total bone mass of the phantom to the Reference Korean data. Finally, the internal organs and tissue were adjusted using in-house software program developed for 3D volume adjustment of the organs and tissue. The effective dose values of HDRK phantoms were calculated for broad parallel photon beams using MCNPX Monte Carlo code and compared with those of ICRP phantoms.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.154-159
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• 2011

To evaluate the radiation exposure of workers participating in task where high radiation exposure is expected, two-dosimeter is typically provided radiation workers, one on the chest and the other on the back, at Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs). In a previous study, the NCRP (55:50) algorithm was selected as the optimal two-dosimeter algorithm (TDA) with various field tests and this TDA has been applied to all Korean NPPs since 2006. In 2007, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) published the new ICRP recommendation, ICRP 103, which provides the revised weighting factors for both radiation and tissues and the new reference phantom. In this study, the applicability of current NCRP (55:50) algorithm at Korean NPPs for ICRP 103 was analyzed. As a result, it was found that the NCRP (55:50) algorithm is still effective to estimate the effective dose of workers under ICRP 103.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1949-1958
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• 2023

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 116 was released to provide a comprehensive dataset of the dose coefficients (DCs) for external exposures produced with the adult reference voxel phantoms of ICRP Publication 110. Although an advanced skeletal dosimetry method for photons and neutrons using fluence-to-dose response functions (DRFs) was introduced in ICRP Publication 116, the ICRP-116 skeletal DCs were calculated by using the simple method conventionally used (i.e., doses to red bone marrow and endosteum approximated by doses to spongiosa and/or medullary cavities). In the present study, the photon and neutron DRFs were used to produce skeletal DCs of the ICRP-110 reference phantoms, which were then compared with the ICRP-116 DCs. For photons, there were significant differences by up to ~2.8 times especially at energies <0.3 MeV. For neutrons, the differences were generally small over the entire energy region (mostly <20%). The general impact of the DRF-based skeletal DCs on the effective dose calculations was negligibly small, supporting the validity of the ICRP-116 effective DCs despite their skeletal DCs derived from the simple method. Meanwhile, we believe that the DRF-based skeletal DCs could be beneficial in better estimates of skeletal doses of individuals for risk assessments.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4698-4707
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• 2022

As part of the ICRP Task Group 103 project, we developed ten thyroid models for the pediatric mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs). The thyroid is not only a radiosensitive target organ needed for effective dose calculation but an important source region particularly for radioactive iodines. The thyroid models for the pediatric MRCPs were constructed by converting those of the pediatric voxel-type reference computational phantoms (VRCPs) in ICRP Publication 143 to a high-quality mesh format, faithfully maintaining their original topology. At the same time, we improved several anatomical parameters of the thyroid models for the pediatric MRCPs, including the mass, overlying tissue thickness, location, and isthmus dimensions. Absorbed doses to the thyroid for the pediatric MRCPs for photon external exposures were calculated and compared with those of the pediatric VRCPs, finding that the differences between the MRCPs and VRCPs were not significant except for very low energies (<0.03 MeV). Specific absorbed fractions (target ⟵ thyroid) for photon internal exposures were also compared, where significant differences were frequently observed especially for the target organs/tissues close to the thyroid (e.g., a factor of ~1.2-~327 for the thymus as a target) due mainly to anatomical improvement of the MRCP thyroid models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1545-1556
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• 2020

Recently, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has developed the Mesh-type Reference Computational Phantoms (MRCPs) for adult male and female to overcome the limitations of the current Voxel-type Reference Computational Phantoms (VRCPs) described in ICRP Publication 110 due to the limited voxel resolutions and the nature of voxel geometry. In our previous study, the MRCPs were used to calculate the dose coefficients (DCs) for idealized external exposures of photons and electrons. The present study is an extension of the previous study to include three additional particles (i.e., neutrons, protons, and helium ions) into the DC library by conducting Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations with the Geant4 code. The calculated MRCP DCs were compared with the reference DCs of ICRP Publication 116 which are based on the VRCPs, to appreciate the impact of the new reference phantoms on the DC values. We found that the MRCP DCs of organ/tissue doses and effective doses were generally similar to the ICRP-116 DCs for neutrons, whereas there were significant DC differences up to several orders of magnitude for protons and helium ions due mainly to the improved representation of the detailed anatomical structures in the MRCPs over the VRCPs.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2004

MIRD-type Korean adult male phantom, 'KMIRD' was constructed to calculate Korean-specific dosimetric quantities for radiation protection consideration. The external shape of KMIRD was based on national physical standard data of Korean. KMIRD has thicket trunk than MIRD5 and arm models divided from trunk. The height and weight of the KMIRD are 171 cm and 63.8 kg. ICRP23 data were referred to constitute organs and tissues of KMIRD. However nine organs were constructed based on Korean reference data provided by Radiation Health Research Institute. In the present study, the MCNPX2.3 Monte Carlo transport code was combined with KMIRD to calculate dose conversion coefficients for photon in the energy range from 0.05 to 10 MeV. The simulated irradiation geometries are broad parallel photon beams in AP, PA, LLAT and RLAT direction. Absorbed dose conversion coefficients were compared with data calculated with MIRD5, MIRD-type phantom based on ICRP23 reference man. In some organs, the discrepancies between two phantoms amount up to nearly 30%. The effective doses conversion coefficients of KMIRD are lower than those of MIRD5. The dose discrepancies between two MIRD-type phantoms ate because of physical differences between Korean and Western, also geometric differences between two phantoms. KMIRD should be revised using the full set of Korean reference data of all organs. The developed MIRD-type Korean adult male phantom can be applied to dose assessment of internal exposure.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2008

In order to better understand the effects of absorbed radioiodine upon Korean reference adult male, a mathematical phantom representation was contrived based on composite data of the physiology of Korean reference adult male. Using this, S-values of radioiodine($^{131}I$) per each organ were calculated. The calculated S-values were compared to the existing data described in the TM-8381 report of ORNLcalculated on the basis of an ICRP-23 reference male. The results indicated that S-values were higher for the phantom based on Korean reference adult male. The results of this study illustrate that, while the bio-chemical constitution of each source and target organ of the torso are important, the relative location of the organs and characteristics of the radionuclides also exert important influences.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2020

Background: Dose conversion coefficients (DCCs) have been commonly used to estimate radiation-dose absorption by human organs based on physical measurements of fluence or kerma. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has reported a library of DCCs, but few studies have been conducted on their applicability to non-Caucasian populations. In the present study, we collected a total of 8 Korean pediatric and adult voxel phantoms to calculate the organ DCCs for idealized external photon-irradiation geometries. Materials and Methods: We adopted one pediatric female phantom (ETRI Child), two adult female phantoms (KORWOMAN and HDRK Female), and five adult male phantoms (KORMAN, ETRI Man, KTMAN1, KTMAN2, and HDRK Man). A general-purpose Monte Carlo radiation transport code, MCNPX2.7 (Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport extended version 2.7), was employed to calculate the DCCs for 13 major radiosensitive organs in six irradiation geometries (anteroposterior, posteroanterior, right lateral, left lateral, rotational, and isotropic) and 33 photon energy bins (0.01-20 MeV). Results and Discussion: The DCCs for major radiosensitive organs (e.g., lungs and colon) in anteroposterior geometry agreed reasonably well across the 8 Korean phantoms, whereas those for deep-seated organs (e.g., gonads) varied significantly. The DCCs of the child phantom were greater than those of the adult phantoms. A comparison with the ICRP Publication 116 data showed reasonable agreements with the Korean phantom-based data. The variations in organ DCCs were well explained using the distribution of organ depths from the phantom surface. Conclusion: A library of dose conversion coefficients for major radiosensitive organs in a series of pediatric and adult Korean voxel phantoms was established and compared with the reference data from the ICRP. This comparison showed that our Korean phantom-based data agrees reasonably with the ICRP reference data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1495-1504
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• 2017

In a previous study, a set of polygon-mesh (PM)-based skin models including a $50-{\mu}m-thick$ radiosensitive target layer were constructed and used to calculate skin dose coefficients (DCs) for idealized external beams of electrons. The results showed that the calculated skin DCs were significantly different from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 116 skin DCs calculated using voxel-type ICRP reference phantoms that do not include the thin target layer. The difference was as large as 7,700 times for electron energies less than 1 MeV, which raises a significant issue that should be addressed subsequently. In the present study, therefore, as an extension of the initial, previous study, skin DCs for three other particles (photons, protons, and helium ions) were calculated by using the PM-based skin models and the calculated values were compared with the ICRP-116 skin DCs. The analysis of our results showed that for the photon exposures, the calculated values were generally in good agreement with the ICRP-116 values. For the charged particles, by contrast, there was a significant difference between the PM-model-calculated skin DCs and the ICRP-116 values. Specifically, the ICRP-116 skin DCs were smaller than those calculated by the PM models-which is to say that they were under-estimated-by up to ~16 times for both protons and helium ions. These differences in skin dose also significantly affected the calculation of the effective dose (E) values, which is reasonable, considering that the skin dose is the major factor determining effective dose calculation for charged particles. The results of the current study generally show that the ICRP-116 DCs for skin dose and effective dose are not reliable for charged particles.