10.2172/10129867

Abstract

The RBD (Radiological Bioassay and Dosimetry) software package was developed for the U. S. Army Materiel Command, Arlington, Virginia, to demonstrate compliance with the radiation protection guidance 10 CFR Part 20 (ref. 1). Designed to be run interactively on an IBM-compatible personal computer, RBD consists of a data base module to manage bioassay data and a computational module that incorporates algorithms for estimating radionuclide intake from either acute or chronic exposures based on measurement of the worker's rate of excretion of the radionuclide or the retained activity in the body. In estimating the intake, RBD uses a separate file for each radionuclide containing parametric representations of the retention and excretion functions. These files also contain dose-per-unit-intake coefficients used to compute the committed dose equivalent. For a given nuclide, if measurements exist for more than one type of assay, an auxiliary module, REPORT, estimates the intake by applying weights assigned in the nuclide fde for each assay. Bioassay data and computed results (estimates of intake and committed dose equivalent) are stored in separate data bases, and the bioassay measurements used to compute a given result can be identified. The REPORT module creates a file containing committed effective dose equivalent for each individual that can be combined with the individual's external exposure. vii In estimating the intake, the RBD code uses a separate paralneter file for each radionuclide. Each radionuclide parameter file contains information for computing intake and dose and information to control the progress of the computations. To date, 41 radionuclide data files have been created: