Head calibration phantoms for actinides: measurements and simulations

Person-specific calibration of a partial body counter used for individualised Am241skull measurements

Incorporation of bone seeking alpha-emitting radionuclides such as²⁴¹Am are of special concern, due to the potential of alpha particles to damage the extremely radiation-sensitive bone marrow. In the case of an internal contamination with²⁴¹Am, directin vivomeasurements using Gamma-detectors are typically used to quantify the incorporated activity. Such detectors need to be calibrated with an anatomical phantom, for example of the skull, of known²⁴¹Am activity that reproduces the anatomy of the measured individual as closely as possible. Any difference in anatomy and material composition between phantom and individual will bias the estimation of the incorporated activity. Consequently, in this work the impact of the most important anatomical parameters on detection efficiency of one of the germanium detectors of the Helmholtz Center Munich (HMGU) partial body counter were systematically studied. For that a detailed model of the germanium detector was implemented in the Monte Carlo codes GEANT4 and MCNPX. To simulate the detector efficiency, various skull voxel phantoms were used. By changing the phantom dimensions and geometry the impact of parameters such as shape and size of the skull, thickness of tissue covering the skull bone, distribution of²⁴¹Am across the scull and within the skull bone matrix, on the detector efficiency was studied. Approaches to correct for these parameters were specifically developed for three physical skull phantoms for which Voxel phantoms were available: Case 102 USTUR phantom, Max-06 phantom, BfS phantom. Based on the impact of each parameter, correction factors for an 'individual-specific' calibration were calculated and applied to a real²⁴¹Am contamination case reported in 2014. It was found that the incorporated²⁴¹Am activity measured with the HMGU partial body counter was about twice as large as that estimated when using the BfS skull phantom without applying any correction factor for person-specific parameters. It is concluded that the approach developed in the present study should in the future be applied routinely for skull phantom measurements, because it allows for a considerably improved reconstruction of incorporated²⁴¹Am using partial body counters.

A puzzling case of contamination with 241Am

Two people were exposed to and contaminated with ²⁴¹Am. In vivo determinations of the incorporated ²⁴¹Am were performed using a whole-body counter and two partial-body counters for the skull and lung, respectively. Additionally, urine samples were analysed to estimate the systemic activity removed from the body. To improve the geometry of the skull measurements, an optimised detector configuration was used, a calibration with three physical phantoms of the human head was conducted, and the morphological variability between the individuals was also considered. The results of the measurements indicate that activity is not deposited in the deep tissues, rather in the skin tissues close to the body surface. Unfortunately, the many open questions relating to the actual circumstances during and after the incident make the interpretation of this case difficult if at all possible.

Counting 241Am in the BfS human skull phantom on contact-evaluation in the human monitoring laboratory

Skull counting can be used to assess the activity of radionuclides internally deposited in the bone. The Human Monitoring Laboratory (HML) at Health Canada conducted the measurement of 241Am in the BfS (Bundesamt für Strahlenschuts) skull phantom on contact with the skull for various positions. By placing the detector in contact, the HML can improve the counting efficiency by over 20% compared to placing the detector 1 cm above the surface of the skull. Among all the positions tested, the forehead position is the preferred counting geometry due to the design of HML's counting facility and the comfort it would provide to the individual being counted, although this counting position did not offer the highest counting efficiency for the gamma rays (either the 59.5 keV or the 26.3 keV) emitted by 241Am.

A simple physical phantom for an intercomparison exercise on 241Am activity determination in the skull

A simple hemispherical phantom has been designed and prepared for the EURADOS intercomparison exercise on (241)Am activity determination in the skull (2011-13). The phantom consists of three parts that substitute bone and soft tissues. (241)Am is deposited on the surfaces of the bone-substituting part. The design and assumed composition of phantom parts are discussed. A preparation of the voxel representation of the phantom is described. The spectrum of a real measurement of the physical phantom agrees well with the simulation. The physical phantom, and its voxel representation, is provided to the participants of the intercomparison exercise.

A case of occupational internal contamination with 241Am

An internal contamination with (241)Am was detected in a worker during a routine monitoring of workers from a company producing Am sources for smoke detectors and Am-Be neutron sources. During the 4-year period after the exposure, the number of urine and faecal samples from the worker were analysed; in vivo measurements were also performed. Specific values for absorption parameters of the human respiratory tract model and particle transport values were applied to improve the model fit to the measurement data. A good agreement of the bioassay data with the so-modified model predictions was obtained.