TY - JOUR
T1 - A survey on emergency thyroid monitoring strategies and capacities in Europe and comparison with international recommendations
AU - Gil, Octavia Monteiro
AU - Youngman, Mike
AU - Vaz, Pedro
AU - Angus, Philip
AU - Battisti, Paolo
AU - Berkovskyy, Volodymyr
AU - Bonchuk, Yuri
AU - Broggio, David
AU - Brudecki, Kamil
AU - Dąbrowski, Krzysztof
AU - de Groot, T.J.H.
AU - Fojtík, Pavel
AU - Franck, Didier
AU - Jaworska, Alicja
AU - Jourquin, Flora
AU - Jug, Nina
AU - Kövendiné-Kónyi, Júlia
AU - Krajewska, Grażyna
AU - Lebacq, Anne Laure
AU - Leenders, Marianne
AU - Lepasson, Monika
AU - Lopez, Maria Antonia
AU - Malatova, Irena
AU - Martins, João O.
AU - Meisenberg, Oliver
AU - Ośko, Jakub
AU - Pázmándi, Tamás
AU - Peace, Mark S.
AU - Rosário, Pedro
AU - Solný, Pavel
AU - Stenström, Mats
AU - Stoyanov, Orlin
AU - Tormo, Maria Luisa
AU - Urboniene, Ausra
AU - Vagfoldi, Zoltán
AU - Vasilenko, Valentina
AU - Willens, Petra
AU - Zagyvai, Peter
N1 - Score=10
PY - 2019/9/1
Y1 - 2019/9/1
N2 - There are ongoing social debates about the risks and benefits of using nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Radiation accidents can occur for different reasons and even be caused deliberately as a result of terrorist actions, and these may affect from a few to thousands of people. After a major release of radioactive iodine as a result of a nuclear accident, large number of potentially affected people may require rapid assessments to determine the degree of thyroid contamination, especially children and young people given that their thyroid is a highly radiosensitive organ and particularly vulnerable to the carcinogenic action of ionising radiation. To date, there is no internationally agreed protocol for measuring 131I in the thyroid of affected persons, especially in children.
To address this problem, the Child and Adult Thyroid Monitoring After Reactor Accident (CAThyMARA) project (https://www.eu-neris.net/projects/operra/operra-cathymara.html) focused on post-accidental 131I measurements in the thyroid, giving special attention to children and involved 15 institutions from 12 European countries. One of the Work Packages of the project had the objective to overview existing national plans and means for thyroid monitoring and to review international recommendations about radioiodine monitoring in the thyroid in case of a large scale nuclear accident. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire-based survey was carried out from May to October 2016. The survey results were based on the analysis of the answers of 31 institutions in 18 European countries, which included a wide range of questions related to emergency plan strategies, monitoring strategies for radioiodine in thyroid, dose assessment, etc. In addition, the peer-review literature in this area was reviewed and summarised. The results of the survey together with the current international recommendations about radioiodine monitoring in thyroid could provide important information on existing gaps, which can be used to develop new or update existing guidelines on thyroid monitoring after a nuclear accident.
AB - There are ongoing social debates about the risks and benefits of using nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Radiation accidents can occur for different reasons and even be caused deliberately as a result of terrorist actions, and these may affect from a few to thousands of people. After a major release of radioactive iodine as a result of a nuclear accident, large number of potentially affected people may require rapid assessments to determine the degree of thyroid contamination, especially children and young people given that their thyroid is a highly radiosensitive organ and particularly vulnerable to the carcinogenic action of ionising radiation. To date, there is no internationally agreed protocol for measuring 131I in the thyroid of affected persons, especially in children.
To address this problem, the Child and Adult Thyroid Monitoring After Reactor Accident (CAThyMARA) project (https://www.eu-neris.net/projects/operra/operra-cathymara.html) focused on post-accidental 131I measurements in the thyroid, giving special attention to children and involved 15 institutions from 12 European countries. One of the Work Packages of the project had the objective to overview existing national plans and means for thyroid monitoring and to review international recommendations about radioiodine monitoring in the thyroid in case of a large scale nuclear accident. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire-based survey was carried out from May to October 2016. The survey results were based on the analysis of the answers of 31 institutions in 18 European countries, which included a wide range of questions related to emergency plan strategies, monitoring strategies for radioiodine in thyroid, dose assessment, etc. In addition, the peer-review literature in this area was reviewed and summarised. The results of the survey together with the current international recommendations about radioiodine monitoring in thyroid could provide important information on existing gaps, which can be used to develop new or update existing guidelines on thyroid monitoring after a nuclear accident.
KW - Radiological and nuclear emergencies
KW - Thyroid monitoring
KW - Children thyroid exposure
KW - Thyroid monitoring strategies
UR - http://ecm.sckcen.be/OTCS/llisapi.dll/open/36005795
U2 - 10.1016/j.radmeas.2019.03.004
DO - 10.1016/j.radmeas.2019.03.004
M3 - Article
SN - 1350-4487
VL - 128
JO - Radiation Measurements
JF - Radiation Measurements
M1 - 106086
T2 - 27th International Conference on Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements
Y2 - 28 August 2017 through 1 September 2017
ER -