Summaries of topical sessions

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Summaries of topical sessions

• Friday 18 June

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Thank you for active participation !

• 850 participants and 50 accompanying persons
• 44 countries
• 550 participants in refresher couses
• Satellite events
• Technical visit to Olkiluoto 67
• NOTE workshop 130
• Radon excursion 39
• Specialist workshop 1 (medical) 90
• Specialist workshop 2 (nuclear industry) 109

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Summaries of topical sessions

• 157 oral contributions and 351 posters
• Chairs and co-chairs of each 19 sessions provided
  1-2 slides on current issues and key conclusions
• Health-related issues - Sisko Salomaa
• Environmental issues and protection of public -
  Mikhail Balonov
• Analytics and dosimetry - Sigurdur Emil Palsson
• Radiation practises and regulation - Tua Rahola

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Summary of health related sessions

• Sisko Salomaa
• Patrick Smeesters
• Stelios Christofides
• Mika Kortesniemi
• Andrey Busmanov
• Wendla Paile
• Yuri Franken
• Kari Jokela

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S01 Biological and health effects of ionising
radiation

• Radiation-induced cardiovascular disease
• Cohort of Mayak PA nuclear workers (about 12000
  W.)
• Ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular
  diseases ? incidence with cumulative dose (ext
  liver Pu dose)
• Plausible mechanism at low or fractionated dose
  linearly dose-related monocyte death resulting in
  increase of MCP-1 (chemo-attractant) to be
  tested
• Review of epidemiological evidence at low and
  moderate doses ? ERR but large variability
• Radiation-induced cataracts
• further evidence at low doses (lenticular
  opacities in radiologistsSTUK) and ongoing
  epidemiological research (int. cardiol.)

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S01 Biological and health effects of ionising
radiation

• New evidence on old issues reinforces the need of
  ALARA approach
• Genetic risk
• new data on RI trangenerational instability
• CNS of fœtus
• low doses impair neurite outgrowth
• RI thyroid cancer in adults
• ? Risk of thyroid cancer among Chernobyl
  liquidators (mean age 37 y)
• A lot of research, particularly in molecular
  biology, are in progress and try to complete the
  puzzle

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S02 Medical use of Radiation

• Special attention is given to patient dose
  optimisation from high dose modalities and
  procedures (MSCT, PET, PET/CT, SPECT/CT, etc),
  Interventional Radiology and Cardiology, with
  emphasis on paediatric and recurrent
  examinations.
• Also dose optimisation tools have been improved,
  and focus has expanded increasingly on the
  minimisation of radiation dose.
• There is a trend in estimating the Life
  Attributable Risk (LAR) for cancer induction from
  the high dose procedures, especially for
  paediatrics.

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S02 Medical use of Radiaiton

• Miss-justification is becoming a major concern.
  There is a need for enhanced education and
  training for the Healthcare Professionals to
  facilitate evidence based decisions for
  examination practices.
• The setting up of National Derived Reference
  levels (DRLs) especially for high dose
  modalities, interventional procedures and for
  peadiatrics is considered as a tool for
  optimisation.
• In Radiotherapy the estimation of the
  out-of-target dose in estimating the risk of
  induction of secondary cancers is becoming
  important for high dose rate procedures
  (gamma-knife, IMRT, IGRT).

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S13 Medical response in radiation accidents

• General trend of session modern treatment of
  radiation victims.
• Russian and French scientists and medical doctors
  reported about new therapeutic approach for the
  treatment of radiation burns combining surgery
  and mesenchymal stem cell treatment. They showed
  new clinical cases of local radiation injuries
  treated by the new method.
• French scientists demonstrated the result of
  experiments with new medicine Calixarene
  nanoemulsion in successful treatment for
  uranium contaminated skin.

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S13 Medical response in radiation accidents

• Biodosimetric area. The study confirmed that the
  PCC ring assay is suitable for use as a good
  biodosimeter following whole-body exposure to
  high (above 8 Gy) doses of radiation.

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S14 Non-ionising radiation protection

• INTERPHONE meta-analysis on brain cancers and
  mobile telephone use Overall no increase of
  meningioma and glioma. Indication of small
  increase of tumors in the highest exposure group.
  Biases and other error sources prevent detecting
  of small risk. More epidemiologic studies is
  needed for effects of heavy use of mobile phones
  more than 10 years (Cardis).
• Gliomas are not located in those parts of brain
  with the highest exposure to the RF-field of a
  mobile phone (Larjavaara et al.)
• Hyperthermia-induced proliferation of cancer
  cells in vitro
• is depressed by 2.2 GHz pulsed EMF (Trillo
  et al.).

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S14 Non-ionising radiation protection

• Scattering and diverging of a laser beam by
  microlens formation is a novel idea for laser eye
  protectors (Branca and Dejan).
• The UV-A induced melanoma metastasis may be due
  to UV-A induced immunosuppression and to a
  lesser extent due to alteration of the adhesive
  properties of melanoma cells (Pastila et al.)
• The use of sunbeds by young people in Iceland 20
  of 12-15 and 52 of 16-19 years old use
  sunbeds (Sigurdsson et al.)

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Summary of environmental sessionsand exposure of
public

• Mikhail Balonov
• Seppo Klemola
• James McLaughlin
• Hannu Arvela
• Augustin Janssens
• Mika Markkanen
• Mark Dowdall
• Tarja K. Ikäheimonen
• Franz Josef Maringer
• Päivi Kurttio
• Ted Lazo
• Iisa Outola

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Radiation protection of the public Sessions 03,
06, 15, 16 and 17

• Public exposure Exposure incurred by members of
  the public from radiation sources, excluding any
  occupational or medical exposure and the normal
  local natural background radiation.
• ICRP-103 The component of public exposure due to
  natural sources is by far the largest, but this
  provides no justification for reducing the
  attention paid to smaller, but more readily
  controllable, exposures to man-made sources.
• Public exposure situations planned, existing
  (and emergency)

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Radiation protection of the public (continued)

• Planned Exposure Situations radiation and
  radioactive discharges from operating facilities
  (industry, medicine, etc)
• Nuclear industry
• Discharges of tritium and other r/nuclides
  monitoring, modeling
• New regulation for clearance materials
• Physical shielding of major medical facilities
• Air-borne releases
• Environmental monitoring for radiation protection
  purposes and for model improvement
• Waste management
• Emerging issue of biota protection
• Less need for regulation, well developed area

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Radiation protection of the public (continued)

• NORM industries
• Awareness of NORM is increasing
• More surveys and site specific assessments are
  being done
• New types of industries and situations involving
  NORM are being identified (Gas and oil mining,
  fertiliser production, construction industry,
  geothermal industry, etc)
• Regulatory requirements and controls are under
  development
• To which extent the requirements for planned
  exposure situations should be applied?
• Application of a graded approach to regulation
• Operators lack expertise and experience in NORM
  management
• Need for specific education and training
• Need for further guidelines on NORM management
• Determination and quantification of NORM
• methods suitable for monitoring large volumes
  with varying concentrations should be developed

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Radiation protection of the public (continued)

• Existing Exposure Situations - elevated radiation
  levels in the human or natural environments,
  including nuclear legacy (PUNE sites, etc)
• Dwellings and public buildings
• Rn in air
• Continued interest in risk assessment based on
  new data
• Trends to reduce reference levels in many
  countries
• National and regional monitoring programs
  (geochemical and indoor)
• Remediation programs in some countries
• Radiation from building materials regulation,
  monitoring and control, mostly at construction
  stage
• Environments with elevated radiation levels
  monitoring and remediation (if justified)
• Former uranium mining and milling sites (Central
  Asia etc)
• Areas of past nuclear practices or accidents
• External radiation monitoring, modeling and
  control
• Radionuclides in foods - inspection of some kinds
• Radionuclides in drinking water - monitoring and
  mitigation of wells (if justified)
• International guidance on regulation still needed

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S09 Radiation protection of the biota

• Can NTE biology change the general approach?
• International activities are going on (ICRP,
  IAEA, etc.)
• More effects detected in areas with elevated
  radiation levels
• Dose assessments are topical
• What is the significance of NORM in the
  protection of the environment?
• Lack of transfer coefficients and concentration
  factors
• Radiation and biological monitoring in progress
• Finnish Lakes (S09-03)
• Chernobyl-affected zones, Radioactive waste
  storage areas, Nuclear weapons test sites
  (S09-04)
• NPP Ecological Risk Assessment studies (P09-05)
• Development of internationally recognized system
  of biota protection and its harmonization with
  human protection is crucial

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Summary of sessions related to analytics and
dosimetry

• Sigurdur Emil Palsson
• Hannele Aaltonen
• Herwig Paretzke
• Hannu Järvinen
• Harri Toivonen
• Inger Margarethe Eikelman
• Irena Malatova
• Roy Pöllänen

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S04 Dosimetry 1/2

• Innovations and trends in internal dosimetry
• Use of new ICRU/ICRP reference phantoms
• Biokinetic models are being improved by human
  data
• Look-up tables (TMT handbook) are useful but
  users should be aware of their limitations
• A detailed exposure assessments for miners
  illustrated the need for taking the main relevant
  factors into conideration.
• Early life Techa river improved assessment of
  in utero and postnatal doses were developed to
  evaluate risks from chronic exposures
• Internal dosimetry for 241Am has been improved by
  MC simulations
• A clear trend can be recognized that uncertainty
  asssesments are gaining high importance now (GUM
  recommendations)

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S04 Dosimetry 2/2

• Innovations and trends in external dosimetry
• Refurbishing of graphite calorimeter standards
  developed for 60Co gamma beams.
• Novel materials are being used for active and
  passive radiation detectors
• Recombination chambers providing information on
  radiation quality besides the ambient dose rate
• Guidelines are available for optimum use of
  active personal dosemeters (APDs) problems at
  high dose rates
• LiF fading and the difference between low
  temperature peaks in personal dosimetry can be
  used to develope a powerful tool to estimate
  exposure conditions
• Innovations and trends in radioecology and other
  applications
• Location-specific parameter changes in European
  level should be considered for the ECOSYS model
  to improve the basis of the ARGOS and RODOS
  decision support systems in preparedness against
  nuclear accidents

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S10 Nuclear and Radiological Emergencies and
Incidents

• Observation
• No major nuclear or radiological emergency
  reported
• Challenge
• Maintaining and developing this high standard of
  safety culture, e.g. by increased international
  co-operation and cross disiplinary work.
• Sharing experience
• reports on lessons learned during abnormal events
• networking and cooperation between relevant
  organisations in different countries

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S10 (continued)

• Sharing knowledge
• monitoring techniques
• results of development of modelling tools for
  prediction exposure or transportation of
  radioactive substances in air and in aquatic
  environment
• Sharing information
• results of assessments
• new guidance and documentation
• information on national arrangements and data
  handling

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S11 Nuclear Security and Malevolent Use of
Radiation (1/2)

• Nuclear Security was addressed for the first time
  in IRPA meetings
• Malevolent use of radiation is a serious threat
  to the society
• Safety and security are the two sides of the same
  coin
• Security measures have to be adopted by the
  radiation protection community
• Novel in-field detection techniques
• Modelling, dispersion calculus, consequence
  management
• Portal monitoring - resolving alarms and response
• Measurement and analysis methods for alpha
  radiation
• Novel algorithms for new type of data
• Experiences at Major Public Events (Copenhagen,
  Vancouver)

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S11 Nuclear Security and Malevolent Use of
Radiation (2/2)

• A scientific breakthrough was presented Optical
  remote detection of alpha radiation, Tampere
  Technical University, Finland
• Safety, Security and Safeguards have similarities
  from technological point of view, and they
  benefit from the science in the different
  disciplines.

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S12 Radiation Detection Technologies and
Radionuclide Analytics

• Use of new detection methods such as
• OSL (optical stimulated luminiscence) in NaCl for
  retrospective dosimetry,
• Remote detection of alpha particles through UV
  radiation
• LaBr3 scintillation detectors in monitoring
  network
• Tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) for
  precise measurement of neutrons and photons in
  unknown mixed radiation areas
• Determination of alpha particles emitting
  radionuclides in the environment, in radioactive
  waste, for nuclear safeguards, for forensic and
  security purposes
• AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) for sensitive
  actinides isotopic ratio measurement
• Sophisticated software enabling spectrometry
  without radiochemical separation

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S12 Radiation Detection Technologies and
Radionuclide Analytics

• New applications/areas current trends
• Enhancement of nuclear/radiation security
  forensic analyses
• Development of coincidence methods
• application of Monte Carlo methods in different
  fields
• use of instrumentation from hospitals (clinical
  gamma camera) for emergency preparedness
• minimizing activity and dose with enhanced image
  quality in medical exposure

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Summary of sessions related to radiation
practises and regulation

• Tua Rahola
• Jack Valentin
• Eduardo Gallego
• Ritva Havukainen
• Pedro Carboneras Martinez
• Risto Paltemaa
• Klaus Henrichs
• Veli Riihiluoma

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• S05 Waste decommissioning
• Final HLW disposal now close to licensing in some
  countries
• Waste from decomm. of nuclear installations now a
  reality
• S07 Education training
• Roles of different experts to be specified
• Emerging tools, platforms, and networks promise
  future improvements
• S08 Protection of workers
• Challenges difficult radiation environments,
  imprecise dose models, training needs
• Prospects ALARA programmes, peer comparisons
  (also between sectors), ORAMED ISOE - ISEMIR

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S18 Recommendations, standards, regulations

• Platforms ICRP P103, risk comparisons, QMS
• Challenges Differing perceptions between
  countries, medical radiological protection,
  TENORM
• Observations and conclusions
• ICRP P103 broadly accepted as basis for new
  standards (but some practice/intervention
  problems still unsolved)
• Can satisfactory conditions at a site be
  specified objectively?
• Risk remains a useful yardstick to set regulatory
  levels
• (Quality) Management systems are worth the effort
• Justification of diagnostic examinations should
  be improved using, e.g., stakeholder involvement
• Multimodal medical imaging requires special
  consideration
• TENORM discharges need attention

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S19 Radiation and society

• Resources and associations presented, case
  studies of stakeholder involvement described
• Practical experience of stakeholder involvement
  now available, can be used in new situations

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