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The use of hair as an indicator of occupational (14)C contamination.

Stenström, Kristina LU ; Unkel, Ingmar LU ; Nilsson, Carl ; Rääf, Christopher LU orcid and Mattsson, Sören LU (2010) In Radiation and Environmental Biophysics 49(1). p.97-107
Abstract
This paper presents a study in which the specific activity of (14)C in hair has been investigated as an easily determined bio-indicator of the integrated (14)C exposure (over several months). The study includes 28 Swedish workers handling (14)C-labelled compounds, or working in a (14)C-enriched environment. Hair samples from personnel at a Swedish nuclear power plant showed very low levels of (14)C contamination, if any. In contrast, personnel at the investigated research departments showed (14)C levels in hair of up to 60% above the natural specific activity of (14)C. Much higher levels, up to 80 times the natural specific activity of (14)C, were found in hair from individuals working at a pharmaceutical research laboratory. This... (More)
This paper presents a study in which the specific activity of (14)C in hair has been investigated as an easily determined bio-indicator of the integrated (14)C exposure (over several months). The study includes 28 Swedish workers handling (14)C-labelled compounds, or working in a (14)C-enriched environment. Hair samples from personnel at a Swedish nuclear power plant showed very low levels of (14)C contamination, if any. In contrast, personnel at the investigated research departments showed (14)C levels in hair of up to 60% above the natural specific activity of (14)C. Much higher levels, up to 80 times the natural specific activity of (14)C, were found in hair from individuals working at a pharmaceutical research laboratory. This contamination was, however, not solely an internal contamination. There were indications that most of the (14)C in the hair originated from airborne (14)C-compounds, which were adsorbed onto the hair. The difficulties in removing this external (14)C contamination prior to analysis are discussed, as are the possibilities of using accelerator mass spectrometry to analyse various types of samples for retrospective dose assessment. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Radiation and Environmental Biophysics
volume
49
issue
1
pages
97 - 107
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • wos:000274549400010
  • pmid:19779729
  • scopus:77049107949
  • pmid:19779729
ISSN
1432-2099
DOI
10.1007/s00411-009-0245-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d4ee31ec-23f9-4fe3-96ec-7e4e4e61ead6 (old id 1483192)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:50:41
date last changed
2024-02-04 13:23:44
@article{d4ee31ec-23f9-4fe3-96ec-7e4e4e61ead6,
  abstract     = {{This paper presents a study in which the specific activity of (14)C in hair has been investigated as an easily determined bio-indicator of the integrated (14)C exposure (over several months). The study includes 28 Swedish workers handling (14)C-labelled compounds, or working in a (14)C-enriched environment. Hair samples from personnel at a Swedish nuclear power plant showed very low levels of (14)C contamination, if any. In contrast, personnel at the investigated research departments showed (14)C levels in hair of up to 60% above the natural specific activity of (14)C. Much higher levels, up to 80 times the natural specific activity of (14)C, were found in hair from individuals working at a pharmaceutical research laboratory. This contamination was, however, not solely an internal contamination. There were indications that most of the (14)C in the hair originated from airborne (14)C-compounds, which were adsorbed onto the hair. The difficulties in removing this external (14)C contamination prior to analysis are discussed, as are the possibilities of using accelerator mass spectrometry to analyse various types of samples for retrospective dose assessment.}},
  author       = {{Stenström, Kristina and Unkel, Ingmar and Nilsson, Carl and Rääf, Christopher and Mattsson, Sören}},
  issn         = {{1432-2099}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{97--107}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Radiation and Environmental Biophysics}},
  title        = {{The use of hair as an indicator of occupational (14)C contamination.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00411-009-0245-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s00411-009-0245-9}},
  volume       = {{49}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}