NRPB - W60 Optimisation of Monitoring for Internal Exposure (OMINEX)

Synopsis

A non-technical summary of this report is available.

The aim of the OMINEX project is to provide advice on the design and implementation of internal dose monitoring programmes in the workplace that enables best use to be made of available resources, while minimising costs. Topics addressed include choice of monitoring method(s), (for example, excretion monitoring versus in vivo monitoring), choice of measurement technique (for example, alpha spectrometry versus mass spectrometry), monitoring intervals, measurement frequency, required measurement sensitivity and accuracy, measurement parameters needed to achieve this performance, the resulting uncertainty in assessed intakes and doses, and minimum detectable doses. The underlying approach to optimisation was to consider costs versus 'benefits', the latter being quantified primarily by assessing the sensitivity or accuracy with which intakes and doses are determined from the results of particular monitoring methods. The main results of surveys of current internal dose monitoring practice and the costs of monitoring programmes are presented. Recommendations on the optimisation of bioassay and in vivo measurement parameters are discussed. A novel method for the assessment of uncertainty in assessed intakes and doses is described, and the use of information on uncertainties in designing a monitoring programme is discussed. Recommendations are described for the monitoring of exposures to compounds of tritium, cobalt, iodine, caesium, uranium, plutonium and thorium encountered in the nuclear industries.

Last reviewed: 1 September 2009