An assessment of bias and uncertainty in recorded dose from external sources of radiation for workers at the Hanford Site

Citations Over Time

Abstract

Worker dose estimates are used in epidemiologic studies of nuclear workers. A major objective of these studies is to provide a direct assessment of the carcinogenic risk of exposure to ionizing radiation at low doses and dose rates. If dose estimates used in analyses of worker data are biased, then risk estimates expressed per unit of dose will also be biased. In addition, random error in dose estimates may lead to underestimation of risk coefficients and can also distort dose-response analyses. Analyses of data from nuclear worker studies, including Hanford, have typically not been adjusted for biases and uncertainties in dose estimates in part because of the lack of adequate information on the nature and magnitude of these biases and uncertainties. This report describes an approach used to assess bias and uncertainty in radiation dose for Hanford dosimetry systems. The approach can be considered as an elaboration of work conducted by a technical committee appointed by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) used to quantify the bias and uncertainty in estimated doses for personnel exposed to radiation as a result of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons between 1945 and 1962. In addition, laboratory studies were conducted to measure bias for selected sources of photon radiation resulting from angular response characteristics of Hanford dosimeter systems. An overall assessment is presented of bias and uncertainty for photon radiation greater than 100 keV. This radiation is expected to have caused the vast majority of recorded dose for Hanford workers.

Related Papers

• → A pilot study of a postal dosimetry system using the Fricke dosimeter for research irradiators(2021)9 cited
• → Operational groundwater monitoring at the Hanford Site--1988(1989)6 cited
• → Groundwater maps of the Hanford Site, June 1992(1992)
• → Hanford tank initiative test facility site selection study(1997)