Estimates of lifetime risk of lung cancer death under different scenarios of Pu-239 inhalation

«Radiation and Risk», 2015, vol. 24, No. 3, pp.59-70

Authors

Sokolnikov M.E. – Head of Lab., MD. Southern Urals Biophysics Institute, FMBA, Ozersk, Russia. Contacts: 19 Ozersk road, Ozersk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia, 456780. Tel.: +79124705865; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Vostrotin V.V. – Head of Lab., C. Sc., Biol. Southern Urals Biophysics Institute, FMBA, Ozersk, Russia.
Ephimov A.V. – Head of Lab. Southern Urals Biophysics Institute, FMBA, Ozersk, Russia.
Vasilenko E.K. – Head of Dep. Southern Urals Biophysics Institute, FMBA, Ozersk, Russia. Romanov S.A. – Director, C. Sc., Southern Urals Biophysics Institute, FMBA, Ozersk, Russia.

Abstract

The annual value of lifetime excess risk of lung cancer mortality and lifetime excess risk over a period starting at age of first exposure to 2³⁹Pu – 20, 30, 40, 50 years – and ending at age 70 years were assessed with the use of the previously developed model for estimating excess relative risk, national statistical data on mortality from all causes and lung cancer, as well as estimates of lung cancer death risk in the cohort of the Mayak Production Association workers. Lifetime excess lung cancer mortality risk to the age of 70 years associated with annual occupational inhalation of readily transportable ²³⁹Pu compounds in the amount of the maximum annual permissible intake over the period 20-70 years of age is 0.0008, and the risk from intake of poorly transportable ²³⁹ compounds is 0.084. Results of study demonstrate the following: the value of total 50-year acceptable risk associated with annual occupational inhalation of poorly transportable ²³⁹ compounds in the amount of the maximal permissible intake limit exceeds the limit. The annual value of the lifetime excess risk of lung cancer mortality over a period starting at age of first exposure to ²³⁹ – 20, 30 and 40 years – and ending at age 45, 50 and 60 years exceeds the established annual limit of acceptable risk – 0.001. The presented data point to the necessity of updating existing radiation safety standards, which have respect to inhalation intake of ²³⁹.

Key words
Radiation safety, lifetime risk, inhalation intake, ²³⁹Pu, radiogenic risk, α-exposure, lung cancer, radiation safety standards, radiation protection, dose limit.

References

1. Radiation safety standards (RSS-99/2009). Sanitary-epidemiological rules and standards. Moscow, Federal Center of Hygiene and Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor, 2009. 100 p. (In Russian).

2. Pierce D.A., Shimizu Y., Preston D.L., Vaeth M., Mabuchi K. Studies of the mortality of atomic bomb survivors. Report 12, part I. Cancer: 1950-1990. Radiat. Res., 1996, vol. 146, no. 1, pp. 1-27.

3. Preston D.L., Shimizu Y., Pierce D.A., Suyama A., Mabuchi K. Studies of mortality of atomic bomb survivors. Report 13: solid cancer and noncancer disease mortality: 1950-1997. Radiat Res., 2003, vol. 160, no. 4, pp. 381-407.

4. Preston D.L., Ron E., Tokuoka S., Funamoto S., Nishi N., Soda M., Mabuchi K., Kodama K. Solid cancer incidence in atomic bomb survivors: 1958-1998. Radiat. Res., 2007, vol. 168, no. 1, pp. 1-64.

5. The 2007 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. ICRP publication 103. Ann. ICRP, 2007, vol. 37, no. 2-4, pp. 1-332.

6. Gilbert E.S., Sokolnikov M.E., Preston D.L., Schonfeld S.J., Schadilov A.E., Vasilenko E.K., Koshurnikova N.A. Lung cancer risks from plutonium: an updated analysis of data from the Mayak worker cohort. Radiat. Res., 2013, vol. 179, no. 3, pp. 332-342.

7. Thomas D., Darby S., Fagnani F., Hubert P., Vaeth M., Weiss K. Definition and estimation of lifetime detriment from radiation exposures: principles and methods. Health Physics, 1992, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 259- 272.

8. Human Mortality Database University of California, Berkeley (USA), and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany). Available at: http://www.mortality.org/ (accessed 18 November 2011).

9. Mesle F., Shkolnikov V.M., Hertrich V., Vallen G. Sovremennye tendentsyi smertnosti v Rossii, 1965- 1994. Na russkom i frantsuzskon yazykakh. Prilozheniye na dvukh disketakh [Modern Patterns of mortality in Russia: 1965-1994, supplement on two disquettes]. Paris, INED, 1996, 140 p.

10. Khokhryakov V.V., Khokhryakov V.F., Suslova K.G., Vostrotin V.V., Vvedensky V.E., Sokolova A.B., Krahenbul M.P., Birchall A., Miller S., Schadilov A.E., Ephimov A.V. Mayak Worker Dosimetry System 2008 (MWDS-2008): assessment of internal dose from measurement results of plutonium activity in urine. Health Phys, 2013, vol. 104, no. 4, pp. 366-78.

Full-text article (in Russian)