Wound dosimetry question

[Kari_Toews@cameco.com]

I have a question for the group regarding how to perform dosimetry

calculations for a wound (likely a cut) contaminated with natural uranium

ore.  There is significant literature on how to deal with the uptake

(internal) dose, but very little that I have found on how to calculate the

dose to the tissue surrounding the wound itself.



We received a question from a member of our workforce who got some slightly

contaminated grease in a cut and was concerned about some skin irritation

afterwards.  There was obviously negligible chance of a deterministic

effect in this case, and the worker was reassured qualitatively that the

irritation was more likely from the grease than the radiation.  But, it got

me interested in having a simple dosimetry model for estimating tissue dose

in this type of scenario. Unfortunately, I am having trouble dealing with

the dose from alpha radiation.  In a cut, the protective layer of skin is

removed, and the alphas have direct access to the tissue, but the mass of

tissue that is exposed to the alpha particles is extremely small (hence

extremely high dose).  Is there a way to perform wound dosimetry for a case

like this that gives a meaningful answer?  Does anyone else deal with this

kind of issue/how is it handled?



Thanks in advance for you assistance,



Kari



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