Assessing 131I in thyroid by non-spectroscopic instruments - A European intercomparison exercise

International audienceOne of the issues of the Open Project for the European Radiation Research Area (OPERRA) was human thyroid monitoring in case of a large scale nuclear accident. This issue was covered in task 5.4 as project “CaThyMARA” (Child and Adult Thyroid Monitoring After Reactor Accident), which included several aspects of thyroid monitoring, e.g. screening of facilities able to perform thyroid monitoring in the European countries, dose estimation, modelling of detector response, and two intercomparison exercises. The intercomparison described in this paper focused on thyroid monitoring by non-spectrometric instruments, including gamma cameras and other instruments that were considered available for measurements made by members of the public. A total of 12 facilities from 7 European countries have participated and 43 various measuring devices have been evaluated. The main conclusion of this intercomparison is that the ability to make assessments of 131I activity in the thyroid to the exposed population after an accidental release must, on the average, be considered as good among the European laboratories taking part in this study. This intercomparison also gave the participants the possibility to calibrate the measuring devices for thyroid measurements of children where this procedure was not available before. A comprehensive report of the intercomparison is given. © 2019 Elsevier Lt

European intercomparison on the measurement of l-131 in thyroid of adults and children

International audienceIn case of a nuclear reactor accident affecting a large population the internal contamination of the workers and the public can be assessed through in vivo measurements. Since iodine-131 is one of the most important releases and since it is of health concern, thyroid monitoring of this radionuclide is of special interest. Intercomparisons of thyroid in vivo measurements usually focus on the adult case. Here we report about a European intercomparison exercise for spectroscopic devices. Three sets of thyroid phantoms of unknown activity were circulated, representing the following ages 5 years-old, 10 years-old and the adult. Nineteen institutions from twelve countries in Europe took part in an intercomparison exercise. Twenty-nine measurement devices have been tested. In the adult case, 5 results were outside the acceptance criteria and 10 in the 10-years old case. In the 5 years-old case, the result was not reported for one measurement device and 11 results were outside the acceptance criteria. Devices that have been tested during this intercomparison now dispose of calibration coefficients for the three age groups. © 201

European intercomparison on the measurement of l-131 in thyroid of adults and children

International audienceIn case of a nuclear reactor accident affecting a large population the internal contamination of the workers and the public can be assessed through in vivo measurements. Since iodine-131 is one of the most important releases and since it is of health concern, thyroid monitoring of this radionuclide is of special interest. Intercomparisons of thyroid in vivo measurements usually focus on the adult case. Here we report about a European intercomparison exercise for spectroscopic devices. Three sets of thyroid phantoms of unknown activity were circulated, representing the following ages 5 years-old, 10 years-old and the adult. Nineteen institutions from twelve countries in Europe took part in an intercomparison exercise. Twenty-nine measurement devices have been tested. In the adult case, 5 results were outside the acceptance criteria and 10 in the 10-years old case. In the 5 years-old case, the result was not reported for one measurement device and 11 results were outside the acceptance criteria. Devices that have been tested during this intercomparison now dispose of calibration coefficients for the three age groups. © 201