OF MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC- REVIEW OF DOSE

• Main Authors: Luis A. Reyes, St. Joseph, Mercy Hospital, Radiation Exposures
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: sami
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.149.6178; http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/secys/2004/secy2004-0107/2004-0107scy.pdf

To report to the Commission the results of staff’s reviews of the dose reconstructions for the most exposed member of the public in the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital case, and to obtain Commission approval of the staff’s recommendations that stem from insights gained during analysis of this case. SUMMARY: Based on its reviews, the staff of the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) has concluded that the 15 centisievert (cSv) (15 rem) dose estimated by Region III for the member of the public is the estimate that appears best supported by available data and, based on this data, does not appear to be overly conservative and is probably closest to the true dose. This conclusion is based on NMSS ’ determination that Region III used an appropriate method to calculate the dose, obtained the necessary data by direct and detailed interviews with the exposed member of the public and the hospital staff on duty at the time of the exposures, and confirmed that the information provided by the exposed member of the public and the hospital staff was consistent. Still, the licensee’s data is at variance with parts of Region III’s findings, CONTACT: Sami Sherbini, NMSS/IMNS [phone]The Commissioners 2 leading to a different dose estimate, and it has not proven possible to resolve these differences. The reconstructions proposed by Drs. Marcus and Siegel (supported by SNM) and by the ACMUI were found to be based on reasonable approaches, but the methods used and assumptions made are likely to result in estimates with greater uncertainty than that provided by Region III. The estimates were 1 cSv (1 rem) obtained by Drs. Marcus and Siegel, 3-6 cSv (3-6 rem) obtained by the licensee, 4-9 cSv (4-9 rem) calculated by the ACMUI, and 15 cSv (15 rem) estimated by Region III. The reconstructions that were reviewed included the alternative dose reconstruction proposed by the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) and prepared by Drs. Carol Marcus and Jeffrey Siegel (Attachment 3); the calculations and report submitted by the ...