PREFACE

Article Outline

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Committee 2 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has the responsibility for providing dose coefficients for intakes of and exposure to radionuclides by workers who are occupationally exposed and by members of the public exposed to radionuclides in the environment. Over the past 30 years, the dosimetric coefficients calculated by the Task Group on Dose Calculations (formed in June 1974) were based on the yields and energies of radiations emitted in nuclear transformations as tabulated in Publication 38 (ICRP, 1983). Publication 38 provided data for the radionuclides addressed in Publication 30 (ICRP, 1979) and for a few additional radionuclides of interest in nuclear medicine. Although Publication 30 and subsequent publications of the Commission only considered the intake of radionuclides with half-lives of more than 10 min, the emissions of short-lived members of their decay chain had to be considered when deriving the parent’s dose coefficient. Thus, Publication 38 included data for 820 radionuclides, 764 with half-lives of more than 10 min and 56 with half-lives of less than 10 min, as either a member of the decay chain of a radionuclide with a half-life of more than 10 min or of potential interest in nuclear medicine.

This publication provides a comprehensive database of nuclear decay data for 1252 radionuclides. The database provides the physical data needed for calculation of absorbed doses in organs and tissues of the body, and the evaluation of localised depth dose distributions. The database includes all nuclides with a half-life of more than 1 min for which the nuclear structure information was judged sufficient for a meaningful assessment of the emissions. Data are provided for 922 radionuclides with a half-life of more than 10 min and 330 radionuclides with a half-life of less than 10 min. This publication departs from the format of Publication 38, and provides the data in electronic form on a CD in a pocket on the inside of the back cover. The electronic format enables inclusion of the continuous energy distribution of beta emissions that are needed in calculations of the depth dose distributions for walled organs and the skin. Similarly, the spectra of neutrons accompanying spontaneous fission are also included on the CD. The electronic format enables presentation of the emissions without invoking a limitation on the number of radiations considered, which would be necessary if the data were provided in printed tables.

The membership of the Working Party on Nuclear Decay Data that contributed to the development of the report was as follows:

The work of the Working Party was greatly aided by significant technical contributions from T. Tamura and K. Umeda.

The membership of the Task Group on Dose Calculations during the period of preparation of the report was:

The corresponding members were:

The membership of Committee 2 during the period of preparation of this report (2005–2009) was: