Radiation Protection Dosimetry (2004), Vol. 108, No. 4, pp. 293EEE E301 DOI: 10.

1093/rpd/nch025

OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION IN THE REGION OF ANATOLIA, TURKEY FOR THE PERIOD 1995EEE E1999

H. Gu ak ndu z, C. T. Zeyrek, L. Aksu and S. Is Turkish Atomic Energy Agency, Ankara Nuclear Research and Training Centre, Department of Dosimetry, 06100, Bes evler, Ankara, Turkey Received July 7 2003 in nal revised form December 22 2003, accepted December 31 2003
For this study, the individual annual dose information on classied workers who are occupationally exposed to extended radiation sources in Turkey, was assessed and analysed by the Ankara Nuclear Research and Training Centre dosimetry service at the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority for the years 1995---1999. The radiation workers monitored are divided into three main work sectors: conventional industry (8.24%), medicine (90.20%) and research-education (1.56%). The average annual dose for all workers in each particular sector was 0.14, 0.38 and 0.08 mSv, respectively, in 1995---1999. This paper contains the detailed analysis of occupational exposure. The statistical analysis provided includes the mean annual dose, the collective dose, the distributions of the dose over the different sectors and the number of workers who have exceeded any of the established dose levels.

INTRODUCTION Radiation accidents over the last several years have increased the general awareness of the risks of exposure to ionising radiation. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are committed to the promotion of the principle of optimisations, effeciall through applications of the Basic Safety Standards (BSS-115) for radiation protection(1,2). In ICRP publication 60, the quantities recommended for dose limitation are the effective dose for whole-body exposure, the equivalent dose for exposure of certain tissues or organs and the committed effective dose for intake of radionuclides. All radiation protection workers in Turkey are regulated and supervised by the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority (TAEA). The TAEA is responsible for monitoring workers in all radiation facilities(3). The TAEA has charged the two national dosimetry services to preside over the necessary monitoring. One is the Ankara Nuclear Research and Training Centre (ANAEM) dosimetry service and the other is the C ekmece Nuclear Research and Training Centre (C NAEM) dosimetry service. The ANAEM dosimetry service has been in operation since 1963. The ANAEM dosimetry service is responsible for monitoring personnel working in the large Anatolia region of Turkey. The C NAEM dosimetry service is responsible for monitoring

radiation in workers who work in Istanbul and in a part of the western region of Turkey. Occupational exposure due to external radiation sources in Turkey arises from three different elds of activity, namely: conventional industry (industrial radiography, industrial irradiation and others), medicine (diagnostic radiology, radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, dental radiology and others) and researcheducation. There are no nuclear power plants in the country. However, there are two research reactors in Istanbul and the persons monitored have been included in the C NAEM dosimetry service. At present, individual monitoring for external radiation is performed at the ANAEM dosimetry service using lm dosimetry. Approximately 10,000 radiation workers in 1575 institutions throughout Turkey are monitored. Over 70,000 whole-body dosimeters are processed per year. In addition, there are new automatic and manual thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) systems for whole-body and extremity monitoring available since 2000. There will be a gradual transfer from lm dosimetry to TLD in the near future. This study presents initial statistics on personal dose equivalent to ionising radiation of Turkish radiation workers in different occupations, evaluates the occupational doses for external radiation in workers for the period 1995---1999 and provides a source of data for epidemiological investigation (4) and studies of dose trends . METHODOLOGY

Corresponding author: zeyrek@taek.gov.tr

Radiation workers have been monitored by the ANAEM dosimetry service since 1963. Dosemeters 293

Radiation Protection Dosimetry Vol. 108 No. 4 Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved

 NDU Z ET AL. H. GU

Figure 1. PTW type lm dosemeter holder (T8621).

are issued monthly in the Ankara region and bi-monthly outside Ankara. The database of the dose records has been continuously renewed and updated during recent years. The registry contains dose information on 20,621 workers for the years 1995---1999. The personal dosemeter is based on the AGFAGeavart personal monitoring lms and used by a holder of the PTW type (see Figure 1). Each badge contains two lms in a single lm pocket, one having a high sensitivity, and the other low sensitivity. The lm badge has ve lters: open window and windows with 0.05 mm Cu, 0.3 mm Cu, 1.2 mm Cu and 0.8 mm Pb lters. The dosemeter's construction offers the possibility of a detailed analysis using the multiple lters. Energy calibrations of lm dosemeters are performed at the Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) at C NAEM. Routine calibration of dosemeters is performed at the ANAEM dosimetry laboratory. The lm dosemeters are processed manually. The optical densities are measured manually and transferred automatically to the computer program for dose calculation. Up to 1987, dose records were kept on hard copy. Since then, the dose records are kept on oppy and compact disks. The earlier system relied heavily on manual labour for both lm processing and data transfer. The new system for keeping dose records is designed to make use of modern hardware and software technologies to provide a very reliable and efcient system. The C NAEM dosimetry service (SSDL) participated in the intercomparison for individual monitoring of radiological measurement for monitoring proposes organized by the IAEA in 1999(5). The methods of dose evaluation in the ANAEM dosimetry service are the same as those adopted by the C NAEM dosimetry service. The ANAEM dosimetry service has established a thermoluminescence dosimetry laboratory in 2000. There are two new thermoluminescence dosimetry readers, Panasonic automatic UD-716AGL and

Panasonic manual UD-513A readers. The thermoluminescence personal dosemeters are based on the Panasonic UD-802 and UD-809 dosemeter card and holder which contains 7Li211B4O7:Cu, 6Li210B4O7:Cu, n Li2nB4O7:Cu and CaSO4:Tm thermoluminescence phosphor elements. The TL dosemeter allows the measurement of the operational quantities Hp(10) and Hp(0.07), the personal dose equivalent penetrating measured at the depth of 10 mm in tissue and the personal dose equivalent supercial measured at the depth of 0.07 mm, respectively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION In this study, the mean value of the radiation workers is all monitored persons in Turkey. Exposed workers are those radiation workers who may be exposed to doses exceeding 0.1 mSv. Minimum detectable dose level (MDL) is 0.1 mSv for our dosimetry service. The results consider workers who have effective dose less than 0.1 mSv (MDL) as non-exposed. Therefore, account is taken of doses occurring below MDL and recorded as zero. The occupational monitoring areas of ANAEM and C NAEM dosimetry services in Turkey are represented in Figure 2. A total of 20,621 radiation workers were monitored between the years 1995 and 1999. The radiation workers monitored are divided into three main work sectors: conventional industry sector (8.25%) (industrial radiography 4.48%, industrial irradiation 0.66% and others 3.11%), medical sector (90.84%) (diagnostic radiology 73.75%, radiotherapy 4.71%, nuclear medicine 9.86%, dental radiology 2.04% and others 0.48%) and researcheducation sector (0.90%) as shown in Figure 3. In Table 1, the number of workers monitored and the percentage of exposed workers with those in the following effective dose (E ) ranges: MDL to `1 mSv, 1 to `20 mSv, 20 to 30 mSv and b30 mSv during the period 1995---1999 are presented. Doses

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OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION

Figure 2. Occupational monitoring area of ANAEM (white area) and C NAEM (dark area) dosimetry services in Turkey.

Research-education Industrial others Industrial irradiation Industrial radiography Medical others Dental radiology Nuclear medicine

Radiotheraphy

Diagnostic radiology

Figure 3. Occupational distribution in percentage (%) of the monitored workers for 1995---1999.

higher than 30 mSv were received by three operators of medical and two operators of industry in this period. The number of exposed radiation workers is 6578 (31.9%). The majority of occupational group and occupationally exposed workers 6471 (about 35%) have activities in medical uses of radiation. As Table 1 shows, 2037 workers received exposures between 1 and `20 mSv and 11 workers received effective doses equal to or more than 20 mSv in medical uses of radiation. In the conventional industry and research-education establishment, the number of exposed workers is 96 persons (5.6%) and 11 persons (5.9%). In these sectors, 40 persons are exposed between 1 and `20 mSv and 6 persons are exposed E ! 20 mSv. Only 17 persons exceeded an effective dose of 20 mSv per year average over ve consecutive years (1995---1999). The collective effective dose was determined according to the expressions (Equation 1) mentioned in the UNSCEAR 2000 Report(4), ICRP Publication

60(1) and in the Safety Series No. 115(2) in each working eld and presented in Tables 2---4 for the years 1995---1999. The collective effective dose, S is given by
N Ei i1

where Ei is the annual effective dose received by the ith worker and N is the total number of workers. " is equal to S/N. The average annual effective dose, E Diagnostic radiology applications involve the largest number of persons monitored in the medical eld. The annual total average effective dose in medicine is shown to range from 0.04 to 0.80 mSv. The largest annual average effective dose was found in nuclear medicine (0.80 mSv) in the year 1997 as shown in Table 2.

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 NDU Z ET AL. H. GU Table 1. Trend in occupational exposures in Turkey from 1995 to 1999. Occupational group Year Total number of workers No. and percentage of exposed workers (%) No. of workers in effective dose intervals MDL to `1 mSv 810 627 824 1167 995 4423 7 5 17 14 12 55 4 ----------1 -----6 4483 1 to `20 mSv 435 235 400 441 526 2037 3 6 12 10 4 35 4 ---------------2 5 2078 20 to 30 mSv -----3 2 1 2 8 -----1 1 2 -----4 ------------------------------12 b30 mSv 2 ---------------1 3 ----------1 1 -----2 ------------------------------5

Medical uses of radiation

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Total 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Total 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Total

3466 2971 3247 4112 4938 18,734 315 350 310 332 394 1701 41 35 27 39 44 186 20,621

1247 865 1226 1609 1524 6471

(36.0) (29.1) (37.8) (39.1) (30.9) (34.5)

Industrial uses of radiation

10 (3.2) 12 (3.4) 31 (10.0) 27 (8.1) 16 (4.1) 96 (5.6) 8 (19.5) ----------1 (2.6) 2 (4.5) 11 (5.9) 6578 (31.9)

Research-education establishment

Total

Table 2. Occupational exposure data from 1995 to 1999 for workers in medical applications. Occupational category Diagnostic radiology Year Total number of workers 2879 2453 2680 3151 4045 133 165 150 243 281 371 277 329 582 475 62 58 68 111 121 21 18 20 25 16 Annual total collective effective dose (man Sv) 2.205 1.216 2.115 2.349 1.781 0.035 0.006 0.022 0.016 0.017 0.227 0.155 0.262 0.317 0.203 0.042 0.015 0.020 0.015 0.029 0.008 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.001 Annual average effective dose (mSv) 0.77 0.50 0.79 0.75 0.44 0.26 0.04 0.15 0.07 0.06 0.61 0.56 0.80 0.54 0.43 0.68 0.26 0.29 0.14 0.24 0.38 0.11 0.20 0.24 0.06

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Radiotherapy

Nuclear medicine

Dental radiology

Other

296

OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION Table 3. Occupational exposure data from 1995 to 1999 for workers in industrial applications. Occupational category Radiography Year Total number of workers 160 206 173 192 192 37 37 22 14 26 118 107 115 126 176 Annual total collective effective dose (man Sv) 0.002 0.086 0.065 0.113 0.015 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.006 0.001 0.049 0.006 0.002 Annual average effective dose (mSv) 0.01 0.42 0.38 0.59 0.08 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.01 0.43 0.05 0.01

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Irradiation

Other

Table 4. Occupational exposure data from 1995 to 1999 for workers in research-education applications. Occupational category Research-education Year Total number of workers 41 35 27 39 44 Annual total collective effective dose (man Sv) 0.014 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.002 Annual average effective dose (mSv) 0.34 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.05

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Radiography involves the largest number of persons both monitored and exposed in the industrial sector. All persons working in irradiation applications are exposed under MDL in the eld of industrial uses of radiation. Therefore, account is taken of doses occurring below MDL and recorded as zeros as shown in Table 3. The research-education has the smallest number of radiation workers as composed to the other sectors as shown in Table 4. The average effective dose showed the largest value in 1995. The results of the collective and average effective doses are schematically presented in Figure 4. In 1995, the average effective dose has the largest value in the medical sector. However, the collective effective dose has the highest value in 1998. The average effective dose of industrial sector is the largest value in 1997. In 1997 and 1999, the collective effective dose is the same largest value in the industrial sector. The

collective and average effective doses have the largest values in 1995 for research-education sector while the lowest value in 1996---1997. Table 5 shows the collective dose (man Sv) from workers in effective dose intervals in 1995---1999. Table 6 shows the number of workers in effective dose intervals in 1995---1999. It can be seen that most annual doses are less than MDL in 14,043 persons and in the MDL---0.99 mSv range in 4483 persons. The total collective dose is 3.062 man Sv in this dose interval. But, total collective dose of 1726 persons is 5.062 man Sv between 1.0 and 4.99 mSv. In conclusion, a statistical analysis was carried out in order to better understand the occupational radiation doses in Turkey. In the future, there is a plan to carry out an epidemiological study in order to evaluate radiation effects on radiation workers based on radiation dose data.

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 NDU Z ET AL. H. GU
Medical
3.0 3.0

Collective effective dose (man Sv)

2.5

2.5

Average effective dose (mSv)

2.0

2.0

1.5

1.5

1.0

1.0

collective effective dose average effective dose

0.5 0.5

0.0 1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

0.0 2000

Year

Industrial
0.12 0.8

Collective effective dose (man Sv)

0.10 0.6 0.08

Average effective dose (mSv)

0.06

0.4

0.04

collective effective dose average effective dose

0.2

0.02

0.00 1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

0.0 2000

Year

Research-education
0.40 0.014 0.35 0.012 0.30 0.010 0.25 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.002 0.000 1994 0.20

Collective effective dose (man Sv)

Average effective dose (mSv)

collective effective dose average effective dose

0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 2000

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

Year

Figure 4. Collective effective dose (~) and average effective dose (*) versus years.

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OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION Table 5. Exposures of workers from all occupational categories during 1995---1999. Occupational category Year Collective dose (man Sv) of workers in effective dose intervals (mSv) MDL---0.99 Diagnostic radiology 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 0.495 0.309 0.547 0.670 0.644 0.005 0.002 0.002 0.005 0.005 0.049 0.025 0.058 0.070 0.093 0.013 0.005 0.007 0.010 0.007 0.002 0.002 0.004 0.003 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.006 0.005 0.004 ------------------------------0.001 0.003 0.001 0.002 0.001 ----------0.001 -----0.567 0.347 0.627 0.765 0.756 3.062 1.0---4.99 1.078 0.547 0.852 1.032 0.842 0.030 0.004 0.008 0.011 0.002 0.115 0.037 0.108 0.155 0.084 0.029 0.010 0.007 0.005 0.022 0.006 ----------0.003 ----------0.003 0.029 0.012 0.004 -------------------------0.006 -----0.001 0.005 -----0.013 ---------------0.002 1.277 0.601 1.005 1.223 0.956 5.062 5.0---9.99 0.422 0.186 0.377 0.501 0.174 --------------------0.010 0.027 0.034 0.051 0.054 0.026 ----------0.006 ----------------------------------------0.008 0.005 0.006 0.007 -----------------------------------0.006 -----------------------------------0.449 0.228 0.445 0.561 0.217 1.900 10---14.9 0.045 0.079 0.225 0.066 0.013 ----------0.012 ----------0.036 0.022 0.014 0.022 ------------------------------------------------------------0.047 -----0.010 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------0.081 0.148 0.251 0.098 0.013 0.591 15---19.9 0.064 0.019 0.063 0.051 0.015 ------------------------------0.037 0.031 0.016 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0.064 0.056 0.094 0.067 0.015 0.296 20---29.9 -----0.076 0.051 0.029 0.048 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0.025 0.025 0.050 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0.101 0.076 0.079 0.048 0.304 b30 0.101 ---------------0.045 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0.030 ----------------------------------------0.039 -----------------------------------0.101 -----0.039 0.030 0.045 0.215

Radiotheraphy

Nuclear medicine

Dental radiology

Other

Radiography

Irradiation

Other

Research-education

Total for each year

Total

299

 NDU Z ET AL. H. GU Table 6. Dose distribution in occupational categories involved in Turkey from 1995 to 1999. Occupational category Year bMDL Diagnostic radiology 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1805 1689 1597 1847 2711 112 156 139 227 267 252 209 224 338 328 37 38 46 78 93 13 14 15 13 15 153 195 150 171 179 37 37 22 14 26 115 106 107 120 173 33 35 27 38 42 2557 2479 2327 2846 3834 14,043 Number of workers in effective dose intervals (mSv) MDL---0.99 720 563 726 957 865 8 7 6 11 11 62 38 71 159 98 15 15 16 30 20 5 4 5 10 1 7 4 12 10 9 ------------------------------1 5 4 3 4 ----------1 -----821 632 841 1182 1007 4483 1.0---4.99 278 163 278 265 437 13 2 4 5 1 50 21 23 74 45 10 5 5 3 8 3 ----------2 ----------1 9 6 3 -------------------------3 -----1 2 -----4 ---------------2 361 192 320 357 496 1726 5.0---9.99 66 28 54 72 27 --------------------2 4 5 8 8 4 ----------1 ----------------------------------------1 1 1 1 -----------------------------------1 -----------------------------------70 34 65 81 34 284 10---14.9 4 6 19 6 1 ----------1 ----------3 2 1 2 ------------------------------------------------------------4 -----1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------7 12 21 9 1 50 15---19.9 4 1 4 3 1 ------------------------------2 2 1 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 3 6 4 1 18 20---29.9 -----3 2 1 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 1 2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4 3 3 2 12 b30 2 ---------------1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 ----------------------------------------1 -----------------------------------2 -----1 1 1 5

Radiotherapy

Nuclear medicine

Dental radiology

Other

Radiography

Irradiation

Other

Research-education

Total for each year

Total

300

OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO IONISING RADIATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In this study, all of the occupational dose database (1995---1999) are presented by permission of directorate of Ankara Nuclear Research and Training Centre (ANAEM), Turkish Atomic Energy Agency. The authors also wish to thank all personnel of the ANAEM personnel dosimetry department for their contribution towards the development of the occupational dose database.
2.

3. 4.

REFERENCES
1. International Commission on Radiological Protection. 1990 Recommendations of the International Commission

5.

on Radiological Protection. ICRP Publication 60. Ann. ICRP 21(1---3) (Oxford: Pergamon Press) (1991). International Basic Safety Standards for Protection Against Ionizing Radiation and for the Safety of Radiation Sources------Safety Series: 115, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA (1996). Law of Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEA), Law No. 2690, Turkish Government Ofcial Gazette No. 17753, 13 July 1982. United Nations Scientic Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation UNSCEAR 2000 Report to the General Assembly. Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. UNSCEAR 2000 Report Vol 1. Results of the 1999 Intercomparison for Individual Monitoring of Radiological Measurement for Monitoring Proposes, R. Cruz-Suarez, K. Mrabit, H. Stadtmann, International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA (1999).

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