ML20126J764
| ML20126J764 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 06/20/1979 |
| From: | Foulke J, Whitfield S NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES), NRC OFFICE OF STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT |
| To: | Parsont M, Swanberg F NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES), NRC OFFICE OF STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT |
| Shared Package | |
| ML19262A508 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-81-132 NUDOCS 8105050256 | |
| Download: ML20126J764 (5) | |
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M f01979 O i MEMORANDUM FOR: M. Parsont, Chief, RHS8/SD !
F. Swanberg, Chief, EERB/RES FROM: S. Whitfield, RilSB/SD ,
J. Foulke, EERB/RES '
SUBJECT:
TRIP REPORT - IAEA SYMPOSIUM ON BIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF !
RADIONUCLIOES RELEASED FROM NUCLEAR INDUSTRIES ;
On March 25-30, we attended an IAEA Symposium on the Biological Implications of Radionuclides Released From Nuclear Industries. The current research findings l prcsonted covered a broad spectrum of topi s. Enclosed are copies of the pro-gram and the list of participants. We ha e preprints of most of the presenta-
- tions for those who are interested,. !
The majority of the papers presented dealt with the basic radiobiology of
. incorporated radionuclides. Effects studied included carcinogenesis and genetic disorders as well as distribution and clearance patterns of incorporated radio-nuclides. There were also a number of papers dealing with environmental trans-port of radionuclides. The emphasis was primarily on transfer factors for food chain modelling and on dietary concentrations of radionuclides.
Of particular interest was the result of an experiment performed by Y. Moskalev of the USSR. This study of the late effects in rats and dogs following intra-venous injection of Am-241 or Cf-252 showed increased survival over the controls of animals receiving low doses. The question arose as to whether this indicated '
a beneficial effect of low dose radiation. D. Grahn of Argonne National Labo-ratory pointed out that this effect had been noted in early experiments involving external irradiation. It was later fourd to be a consequence of a reduced incidence of infection i'n these' animals over that in the controls. When the experiment was repeated using germ-free animals kept in an axenic environment (free of other organisms), this effect was eliminated. Moskalev replied that experiments should be conducted under conditions comparable to normal life.
. Others countered that the use of antibiotics by modern man is comparable to .
living in an axenic environment. .
A number of papers were devoted to the study of the transmutation effect of incorporation of radionuclides; that is, the effect resulting frcm substitution of a new atom within a molecule, rather than the ionization and excitation pro-duced by a charged particle. The consensus was that transmutation was not significant from a health standpoint relative to ionization. s Another important concept discussed was synergism. The paper that stimulated this discussion was by H. Metivier of the French Institute for Radioprotection, who studied the effects of exposure to plutonium oxide *in combination with benzopy-rene or dimethylnitrosamine in rats; previous work looked at plutonium inhaled in combination with sodium. Based on the discussion, it appears that further P00R ORSEL
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= . - -- - . .
M. Parsont .
F. Swanberg 2 studies:in this area should be sponsored by NRC. Synergism is of particular significance for two reasons: Firstly, it represents exposures in the real world where populations and individuals are simultaneously exposed to chemical carcinogens and air pollution as well as to ionizing radiation. Secondly, with proper experimental design and saf ficient population size, the use of statfstical '
techniques can permit extraction of the effect of low doses of radiation, which cannot be seen when radiation is the only initiating or potentiating agent present. j Other excellent papers presented were those dealing with bone dosimetry. The .
autoradiographic studies by the U.K. National Radiological Protection Board t and the bone remodelling studies by the F.R.G. Institute for Genetic and Toxicologic Studies were outstanding. NRC's dosimetry programs at ORNL will benefit from the biological data presented here.
While no presentations were made of work being sponsored by NRC/RES, several ,
of our principal investigators did present other papers. These included R. Cuddihy (ITRI), D. Grahn (ANL), and R. Rcwland (ANL). Through them we met with other '
scientists doing research in areas potentially useful to NRC.
Of interest for our radiation dose calculations was a paper presented by Y. C.
Ng et. al., in which updated environmental transfer coefficients for reactor effluent radionuclides were presented. Ng's previous transfer coefficient values were utilized in dose calculation procedures in Regulatory Guide 1.109.
Because of the current interest in low level radiation health effects, we attempted to' focus in particular on this issue. We met Dr. R. H. Clarke and Dr. Pamela Bryant of the NRPB to discuss epidemiology-related ef forts underway -
in the U.K. The NRPB is funding a study of occupation ~ ally exposed ex-employees 3 of British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL). The BNFL study cohort consists of ;
approximately 14,000 ex-korkers with a mean annual exposure of about i rem. !
There is some degree of optimism on the part of NRPB regarding the potential of ,
the study because of the relatively high mean exposure level. '
In a parallel effort, the NRPB has established a national registry for radiation workers (NRRW) with the long-term objective of investigating the effects of exposure on the causes and ages at death of occupationally exposed, radiation workers. The potential size of the registry is about 30,000 current radiation workers in the U.K. , and will be greater when the entry of data on ex-radiation workers begins. The registry is voluntary; however, there has been a high rate of cooperation on the part of the individuals approached. Although there are l' some concerns about confidentiality, there is no apparent legal block to.,obtain-ing information. Information gathering is basically a matter of gaining the voluntary cooperation of medical institutions, physicians, and f amilies. Inter-estingly enough, although a U.K. regulation requires that all licensee exposure records be accompanied by medical records, apparently these do not include medi-cal radiation exposures, and neither will these be included in the registry. We consider this to be a drawback. A recent NRPB document (R-77) reflects two recent U.K. radiation exposure surveys and contains a breakdown of both occupational i
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M. Parsont ,
F. Swanberg 3 l and medical exposures. Dr. R. H. Clark 'o'f the NRPB will be forwarding a copy I
of this report'to us. Ve have-been referred to Dr. Reissland of NRPB for more
-detailed information on the registry, and we plan to contact him shortly because i this may be of potential value to the NRC/ EPA Feasibility Planning Study, i
}
y Ve were also able to meet briefly.with Dr. G. Uzzan of the Depar.tment of Radia- !
j i; . tion Protection of the France Commissariat a l'Energie Atocique, to discuss an
- f . epidemiological effort being set isp in conjunction with Euratom. One phase of !
- .the effort will be to study the feasibility of developing a European radiation
worker registry. According to Dr. Uzzan, there are about 250,000 European radiation !
! workers' for whom excellent = records are available, but the record formats differ (
,{L among countries. .The task of the feasibility' study will be to' assess the
- i
' liklihood'that these records can be usefully abstracted in a-form suitable for l a large scale epidemiology study. Dr. Uzzan also indicated that they wil1~be j
'! conducting dose-effect studies with experimental animals and also reviewing ;
additional human data. He expressed an interest in our feasibility study,.and '
i we agreed to an exchange of information on the progress of the respective
. programs.
' f In general, it appeared that the low level health effects issue is of less i concern in the European community than it is in this country. In addition, !
there appeared to be a significant degree of skepticism among NRPB re.'resenta- i tives regarding the Mancuso g a_1,. , study.
We made 'the following additional contacts and collected information which is I of some interest to our current efforts- .
f
- 1. Dr. Douglas Grahn, Director of Biological and Medical Research, Argonne. l A) Dr. Grahn advised us that his division expects to have access to the i original tri-state leukemia data in the near future and will be in !
need of financial support to conduct a complete re-analysis of the I data. This is the data base upon which the original tri-state anal- i ysis was conducted. According to Dr. Grahn, some significant problems j
. with the original analysis warrant further defi(sitive investigation.
- l i
B) Bob Alexander,. OHSB/SD, had contacted Dr. Grahn earlier about coming !
to SD for a short series of lectures regarding the genetic aspects j of low level radiation--Dr. Grahn re-emphasized his interest in coming -i to NRC and said that he would probably be available some time early j this summer. s ;
- 2. William F. Brandom, Cytogeneticist, Oept. of Biological Sciences, University ;
of Denver. t i We met with Dr. Brandom to discuss at some length the feasibility of employing cytogenetic techniques to impicment a complementary radiation monitoring and dosimetry system for occupationally exposed workers and/or ,
the general population. Under contract to DOE, Dr. Brandom has been conducting j i i
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. a M. Pariont '
F. Swanberg 4 studies of peripheral chromesomal abnormalities in uranium miners and plutonium workers (Rocky Flats). Dr. Brandom has developed a rather exten-sive capability in this area, including a mobile cytogenetics unit capable of responding to isolated incidences of overexporure. Brandom has invited us to visit his operation in Denver to become more familiar with the '
methodologies employed and to further discuss the feasibility of employing
-these techniques as part of an occupational health program. e This symposium was.most valuable in gaining broad perspective of international >
efforts in areas of interest to NRC. We are available to respond to questions about the presentations and the individual contacts which we made.
N /'
S. Whitfield, RUSB, SD
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J. foulke, EERB, RES NL RHSB:SD R?
Job B Disc SWhitfield ei 6/15/79 6/ /79 .iji/79 .
Distribution: -
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