Re[2]: calculation of dose to biota

[ej_antonio@ccmail.pnl.gov]

     I think that IAEA Technical Report Series No. 332 (1992) and NCRP 
     Report No. 109 (1991) do suggest using a modifying factor.  For 
     example, in the former, pg 38 section 3.1.1.3. last sentence of 
     the first paragraph:
          In the case of Pu-239, an alpha emitter, a factor of 20 was 
          employed to account for the potentially greater magnitude of 
          damage per unit of absorbed dose.
     
     And in the latter, see pg 58, second paragraph:
     
          Another problem with calculating alpha dose for aquatic 
          biota is the differential response to equal absorbed doses 
          of different radiations.  Quality factors (Q) have been 
          determined to account for the differences in relative 
          biological effectiveness (RBE) for alpha, beta, and gamma 
          radiation; however, these are currently defined only for the 
          purpose of human radiation protection.  Factors equivalent 
          to Q for aquatic organisms are required in order to modify 
          the calculated absorbed dose and thus give a measure of the 
          biologically effective dose in aquatic organisms.  Because 
          the soft tissue compositions of humans and other organisms 
          are generally similar in water content and basic cell 
          structure, similar values of RBE would be expected for the 
          different radiation types.