Recommended citation
ICRP, 2020. Adult mesh-type reference computational phantoms. ICRP Publication 145. Ann. ICRP 49(3).
Authors on behalf of ICRP
C.H. Kim, Y.S. Yeom, N. Petoussi-Henss, M. Zankl, W.E. Bolch, C. Lee, C. Choi, T.T. Nguyen, K. Eckerman, H.S. Kim, M.C. Han, R. Qiu, B.S. Chung, H. Han, B. Shin
Abstract - Following the issuance of new radiological protection recommendations in ICRP Publication 103, the Commission released, in ICRP Publication 110, the adult male and female voxel-type reference computational phantoms to be used for calculation of the reference dose coefficients (DCs) for both external and internal exposures. While providing more anatomically realistic representations of internal anatomy than the older stylised phantoms, the voxel phantoms have their limitations, mainly due to voxel resolution, especially with respect to small tissue structures (e.g. lens of the eye) and very thin tissue layers (e.g. stem cell layers in the stomach wall mucosa and intestinal epithelium).
This publication describes the construction of the adult mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) that are the modelling counterparts of the Publication 110 voxel-type reference computational phantoms. The MRCPs include all source and target regions needed for estimating effective dose, even the micrometre-thicktarget regions in the respiratory and alimentary tract organs, skin, and urinary bladder, assimilating the supplementary stylised models. The MRCPs can be implemented directly into Monte Carlo particle transport codes for dose calculations (i.e. without voxelisation), fully maintaining the advantages of the mesh geometry. DCs of organ dose and effective dose and specific absorbed fractions (SAFs) calculated with the MRCPs for some external and internal exposures show that - while some differences were observed for small tissue structures and for weakly-penetrating radiations - the MRCPs provide the same or very similar values as the previously published reference DCs and SAFs, which were calculated with the Publication 110 reference phantoms and supplementary stylised models, for most tissues and penetrating radiations. Consequently, the DCs for effective dose (i.e. the fundamental protection quantity) were not found to be different. The DCs of ICRP Publication 116 and the SAFs of ICRP Publication 133 thus remain valid.
To demonstrate deformability of the MRCPs in this publication, the reference phantoms were transformed to construct non-reference phantoms that represent the 10th and 90th percentiles of body height and weight for the Caucasian population. The constructed non-reference phantoms were then used to calculate non-reference DCs for industrial radiography sources near the body, which can be used to estimate organ doses of workers accidentally exposed to these sources, and which reflect the body size of the exposed worker. The MRCPs of this publication were also transformed to phantoms that represent different postures (walking, sitting, bending, kneeling, and squatting), which were then used to evaluate variations in the DCs from the traditional upright standing position.
© 2020 ICRP. Published by SAGE.
Keywords: Phantoms; Polygon mesh; Tetrahedral mesh; Dose coefficients; Internal and external exposures.
Key Points
This publication presents mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) representing the Reference Adult Male and Reference Adult Female, which are counterparts of the voxel phantoms of Publication 110 (ICRP, 2009) developed from segmented computed tomographic data of real people.
The MRCPs were constructed by converting the voxel phantoms to a high-quality mesh format, assimilating the supplementary stylised models used in conjunction with the voxel phantoms to overcome limitations of voxel resolution, and adding tissue layers that are considered to contain cells at risk of radiogenic cancer.
The MRCPs include all source and target organs/tissues required for the calculation of effective dose, including the micrometre-thick target layers of the alimentary and respiratory tract organs, skin, and urinary bladder.
The voxel phantoms remain the reference models for calculation of Publication-103- based dose coefficients (DCs) (ICRP, 2007), but the MRCPs will be used in all other future calculations and also provide a resource for wider use in radiological protection applications.
To demonstrate the flexibility of the MRCPs, they were modified to construct additional non-reference phantoms representing the 10th and 90th percentiles of body height/weight of Caucasian adults, and non-standing postures, to calculate non-reference DCs for exposures to industrial radiography sources reflecting these different body sizes or posture.
Executive Summary: Not included in this publication
Citation: ICRP, 2020. Radiological protection of people and the environment in the event of a large nuclear accident: update of ICRP Publications 109 and 111. ICRP Publication 146.Ann. ICRP 49(4).
Technical abstract (from Pub146) – (287 words)
This publication provides a framework for the protection of people and the environment in a large nuclear accident, drawing on experience of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. In managing accidents, the Commission makes a distinction between the early and intermediate phases, considered emergency exposure situations, and the long-term phase, considered an existing exposure situation. In emergency and existing exposure situations, mitigating the radiological consequences on humans and the environment is achieved using the fundamental principles of justification of decisions and optimisation of protection. The Commission recommends a set of reference levels for the optimisation of protection of the general population and responders, both on-site and off-site, for all accident phases. Implementation of protective actions should not only take account of radiological factors, but also consider societal, environmental, and economic aspects to protect health, ensure sustainable living conditions for the affected people, ensure suitable working conditions for the responders, and maintain the quality of the environment. In the early phase of an accident, urgent protective actions must be taken, often with little information. Decisions rely on actions identified during preparedness planning that best match the actual situation. During the intermediate phase, protective actions reduce radiation exposures progressively. When the radiological situation is sufficiently characterised, the long-term phase begins, during which further protective actions are implemented to improve living and working conditions. Authorities should invite key representative stakeholders to participate in the preparedness process, and in the management of the successive phases of the accident. It is the role of the authorities to implement radiation monitoring and health surveillance, and to provide the conditions and means for sharing information and expertise to enable individuals to develop a radiological protection culture and to make informed decisions about their own protection.
General summary - (340 words, Readability score 15.8)
A large nuclear accident can affect all aspects of daily life. The impact can be reduced by actions taken to protect emergency responders, members of the public, as well as plants and animals. Decisions on what to do need to take into account the consequences of radiation exposure on physical and mental health, as well as disruption to the economy, society and the wider environment caused by the accident.
Lessons from the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents have been used to describe how to protect people and the environment from radiation exposure before, during, and after a large nuclear accident. This report provides advice on how to implement protective actions, share information, conduct environmental monitoring, and survey the health of affected people to make informed decisions on protection. In the first few days after an accident, it is important to take measures to avoid serious health effects caused by the radiation. In the longer-term, protective actions should be taken to pursue the wellbeing of the affected people by reducing the societal, economic, environmental, and psychological impacts of the accident. The ICRP recommends the use of dose criteria to guide the implementation of protective actions. The chosen value of these dose criteria provides an indication of the scale of what might need to be done in the days, weeks and months after the nuclear accident to improve the radiological situation and to provide decent living conditions for those residing and working in the affected area. The local population, authorities, experts and other stakeholders need to cooperate closely together to gain a good understanding of all of the issues that might be at stake, before making decisions on what protective actions to take and how to ensure they are implemented effectively. In that perspective, ICRP recommends the cooperation between affected people, experts and authorities. Planning and preparedness are essential for mitigating the consequences of a large nuclear accident and must involve all of the relevant stakeholders. The report contains two Annexes that provide a brief historical overview of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents..
Concise (39 words)
This report describes how to improve protection of people and the environment during and after a large nuclear accident with recommendations on how to reduce possible radiation impacts, share information, conduct monitoring, and survey health to make informed decisions
ICRP, 2020. Adult mesh-type reference computational phantoms. ICRP Publication 145. Ann. ICRP 49(3).
Authors on behalf of ICRP
C.H. Kim, Y.S. Yeom, N. Petoussi-Henss, M. Zankl, W.E. Bolch, C. Lee, C. Choi, T.T. Nguyen, K. Eckerman, H.S. Kim, M.C. Han, R. Qiu, B.S. Chung, H. Han, B. Shin
Abstract - Following the issuance of new radiological protection recommendations in ICRP Publication 103, the Commission released, in ICRP Publication 110, the adult male and female voxel-type reference computational phantoms to be used for calculation of the reference dose coefficients (DCs) for both external and internal exposures. While providing more anatomically realistic representations of internal anatomy than the older stylised phantoms, the voxel phantoms have their limitations, mainly due to voxel resolution, especially with respect to small tissue structures (e.g. lens of the eye) and very thin tissue layers (e.g. stem cell layers in the stomach wall mucosa and intestinal epithelium).
This publication describes the construction of the adult mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) that are the modelling counterparts of the Publication 110 voxel-type reference computational phantoms. The MRCPs include all source and target regions needed for estimating effective dose, even the micrometre-thicktarget regions in the respiratory and alimentary tract organs, skin, and urinary bladder, assimilating the supplementary stylised models. The MRCPs can be implemented directly into Monte Carlo particle transport codes for dose calculations (i.e. without voxelisation), fully maintaining the advantages of the mesh geometry. DCs of organ dose and effective dose and specific absorbed fractions (SAFs) calculated with the MRCPs for some external and internal exposures show that - while some differences were observed for small tissue structures and for weakly-penetrating radiations - the MRCPs provide the same or very similar values as the previously published reference DCs and SAFs, which were calculated with the Publication 110 reference phantoms and supplementary stylised models, for most tissues and penetrating radiations. Consequently, the DCs for effective dose (i.e. the fundamental protection quantity) were not found to be different. The DCs of ICRP Publication 116 and the SAFs of ICRP Publication 133 thus remain valid.
To demonstrate deformability of the MRCPs in this publication, the reference phantoms were transformed to construct non-reference phantoms that represent the 10th and 90th percentiles of body height and weight for the Caucasian population. The constructed non-reference phantoms were then used to calculate non-reference DCs for industrial radiography sources near the body, which can be used to estimate organ doses of workers accidentally exposed to these sources, and which reflect the body size of the exposed worker. The MRCPs of this publication were also transformed to phantoms that represent different postures (walking, sitting, bending, kneeling, and squatting), which were then used to evaluate variations in the DCs from the traditional upright standing position.
© 2020 ICRP. Published by SAGE.
Keywords: Phantoms; Polygon mesh; Tetrahedral mesh; Dose coefficients; Internal and external exposures.
Key Points
This publication presents mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) representing the Reference Adult Male and Reference Adult Female, which are counterparts of the voxel phantoms of Publication 110 (ICRP, 2009) developed from segmented computed tomographic data of real people.
The MRCPs were constructed by converting the voxel phantoms to a high-quality mesh format, assimilating the supplementary stylised models used in conjunction with the voxel phantoms to overcome limitations of voxel resolution, and adding tissue layers that are considered to contain cells at risk of radiogenic cancer.
The MRCPs include all source and target organs/tissues required for the calculation of effective dose, including the micrometre-thick target layers of the alimentary and respiratory tract organs, skin, and urinary bladder.
The voxel phantoms remain the reference models for calculation of Publication-103- based dose coefficients (DCs) (ICRP, 2007), but the MRCPs will be used in all other future calculations and also provide a resource for wider use in radiological protection applications.
To demonstrate the flexibility of the MRCPs, they were modified to construct additional non-reference phantoms representing the 10th and 90th percentiles of body height/weight of Caucasian adults, and non-standing postures, to calculate non-reference DCs for exposures to industrial radiography sources reflecting these different body sizes or posture.
Executive Summary: Not included in this publication
Citation: ICRP, 2020. Radiological protection of people and the environment in the event of a large nuclear accident: update of ICRP Publications 109 and 111. ICRP Publication 146.Ann. ICRP 49(4).
Technical abstract (from Pub146) – (287 words)
This publication provides a framework for the protection of people and the environment in a large nuclear accident, drawing on experience of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. In managing accidents, the Commission makes a distinction between the early and intermediate phases, considered emergency exposure situations, and the long-term phase, considered an existing exposure situation. In emergency and existing exposure situations, mitigating the radiological consequences on humans and the environment is achieved using the fundamental principles of justification of decisions and optimisation of protection. The Commission recommends a set of reference levels for the optimisation of protection of the general population and responders, both on-site and off-site, for all accident phases. Implementation of protective actions should not only take account of radiological factors, but also consider societal, environmental, and economic aspects to protect health, ensure sustainable living conditions for the affected people, ensure suitable working conditions for the responders, and maintain the quality of the environment. In the early phase of an accident, urgent protective actions must be taken, often with little information. Decisions rely on actions identified during preparedness planning that best match the actual situation. During the intermediate phase, protective actions reduce radiation exposures progressively. When the radiological situation is sufficiently characterised, the long-term phase begins, during which further protective actions are implemented to improve living and working conditions. Authorities should invite key representative stakeholders to participate in the preparedness process, and in the management of the successive phases of the accident. It is the role of the authorities to implement radiation monitoring and health surveillance, and to provide the conditions and means for sharing information and expertise to enable individuals to develop a radiological protection culture and to make informed decisions about their own protection.
General summary - (340 words, Readability score 15.8)
A large nuclear accident can affect all aspects of daily life. The impact can be reduced by actions taken to protect emergency responders, members of the public, as well as plants and animals. Decisions on what to do need to take into account the consequences of radiation exposure on physical and mental health, as well as disruption to the economy, society and the wider environment caused by the accident.
Lessons from the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents have been used to describe how to protect people and the environment from radiation exposure before, during, and after a large nuclear accident. This report provides advice on how to implement protective actions, share information, conduct environmental monitoring, and survey the health of affected people to make informed decisions on protection. In the first few days after an accident, it is important to take measures to avoid serious health effects caused by the radiation. In the longer-term, protective actions should be taken to pursue the wellbeing of the affected people by reducing the societal, economic, environmental, and psychological impacts of the accident. The ICRP recommends the use of dose criteria to guide the implementation of protective actions. The chosen value of these dose criteria provides an indication of the scale of what might need to be done in the days, weeks and months after the nuclear accident to improve the radiological situation and to provide decent living conditions for those residing and working in the affected area. The local population, authorities, experts and other stakeholders need to cooperate closely together to gain a good understanding of all of the issues that might be at stake, before making decisions on what protective actions to take and how to ensure they are implemented effectively. In that perspective, ICRP recommends the cooperation between affected people, experts and authorities. Planning and preparedness are essential for mitigating the consequences of a large nuclear accident and must involve all of the relevant stakeholders. The report contains two Annexes that provide a brief historical overview of the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents..
Concise (39 words)
This report describes how to improve protection of people and the environment during and after a large nuclear accident with recommendations on how to reduce possible radiation impacts, share information, conduct monitoring, and survey health to make informed decisions
