Development of database of dose reduction factor for reducing equivalent doses to the thyroid by implementing iodine thyroid blocking (Contract research)

Kimura, Masanori ; Munakata, Masahiro ; Hato, Shinji*; Kanno, Mitsuhiro*

To consider the method of implementing urgent protective actions in a nuclear accident appropriately, the authors have been assessing the effects of reducing doses by taking urgent protective actions using a Level 3 Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) code, the OSCAAR, developed by the JAEA. Iodine thyroid blocking is an effective urgent protective action to reduce equivalent doses to the thyroid due to inhalation of radioactive iodine. However, the timing of the administration of stable iodine (SI) is important to maximize the effectiveness for thyroidal blocking. Therefore, the careful consideration should be given to the most effective way of iodine thyroid blocking when preparing off-site emergency plans. In the present study, the authors developed a new metabolic model for thyroid by combining the respiratory tract model (Publ.66) and gastrointestinal tract model (Publ.30) of the ICRP with a metabolic model for thyroid (Johnson's model) in order to calculate the behavior of radioiodine and stable iodine in the body more realistically. The model is useful to evaluate the effect of the administration of SI for reducing equivalent doses to the thyroid depending on the its timing. We also calculated the reduction factor for equivalent doses to the thyroid in order to the thyroid by using the model, and then developed the its database for the OSCAAR. Consequently, the OSCAAR can evaluate the effectiveness for thyroidal blocking realistically and promptly.