Re: Varskin

[Judd Sills <sillsj@GAT.COM>]

At 06:57 PM 9/23/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>I am looking for information on the develomental history and current
>status of the dose assessment software package Varskin ModII.  In
>addition, opinions about Varskin from current users would be of interest
>to me.  If anyone has information or knows where it can be found, I would
>greatly appreciate the help.
>
>Sara Casey
>c697554@showme.missouri.edu
>
>
VARSKIN Mod 2 and SADDE MOD2 skin dose codes were documented
in NUREG/CR-5873, PNL-7913, November 1992.

The code is adequate, though some users may find the listing of
isotopes a little incomplete.  It also could have benefitted
from some enhancements to streamline the input of data to the
code, though the impact of these difficulties (e.g., repeated
requests for job title information when processing each isotope
in the contamination input data, no facility for re-use of previous
input data with editing, etc.), I would characterize as mere
inconveniences.  The documentation in the NUREG is somewhat brief,
so I would recommend that any users be very familiar with the
code and understand what hidden assumptions might be in it
before using it for calculating doses of record.  One major
assumption that users should be aware of is that they must
enter daughter isotopes and their activities in addition to
the parent, as no daughter radiations are assumed.  This is not
mentioned in the NUREG.  An example of this...Sr-90 (29 year)
will generally be in secular equilibrium with its short-lived
daughter Y-90 (64 hour).  You must enter data for both Sr-90
and Y-90 to model this contaminant.  I have also found it 
necessary to expand upon the data provided in the NUREG for
density thicknesses of various clothing items that might
be between the contamination and the skin, as the included
table is somewhat brief.  Despite all the above, the code
is easy to use, and has very widespread acceptance by the
regulators, so I favor its use.

I hope that this helps

Best regards

Judd M. Sills, CHP           |   Office: (619)455-2049
General Atomics, Room 01-166C|      Fax: (619)455-3181
3550 General Atomics Court   |   E-Mail:  sillsj@gat.com
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