Title
An Interdatabase Comparison of Nuclear Decay Data Utilized in the Calculation of Dose Coefficients for Radionuclides Produced in a Spallation Neutron Source
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2005
First page number:
27
Last page number:
27
Abstract
As part of the UNLV Transmutation Research Program the Department of Health Physics has been tasked to quantify the radiological risks to workers during the operation of high energy proton accelerators. Dose coefficients, the committed dose equivalent to an organ or tissue per unit intake or the committed effective dose equivalent per unit intake, allow simple determination of dose to an exposed individual when multiplied by a known intake. Utilizing dosimetry codes in the calculation of a dose coefficient requires the use of nuclear structure data files to generate detailed radioactive decay scheme data. Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data Files (ENSDF) maintained by the National Nuclear Data Center at Brookhaven National Laboratory serve as input files for the dosimetry codes in this work. Currently, the data in the ENSDF library is updated in six year intervals, which may represent a significant source of error relative to current scientific literature. A methodology was developed to compare and analyze the nuclear decay data profiles found in the ENSDF library relative to an additional nuclear physics database. Results show that 31 of the 83 decay chains evaluated in this study have agreeing nuclear decay data profiles in both databases.
Keywords
Radiation — Dosage; Radiation — Safety measures; Radiation dosimetry; Radioactive decay — Databases; Radioisotopes – Measurement
Disciplines
Environmental Public Health | Health and Medical Physics | Nuclear | Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene
Language
English
Permissions
Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Repository Citation
Shanahan, J. P.,
Rudin, M.,
Patton, P. W.
(2005).
An Interdatabase Comparison of Nuclear Decay Data Utilized in the Calculation of Dose Coefficients for Radionuclides Produced in a Spallation Neutron Source.
27-27.
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