Determination of tritium concentrations in humans before the development of a nuclear power plant in Turkey

• Published in: Isotopes in environmental and health studies Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 478 - 484
• Main Authors: Dizman, Serdar, Yilmaz, Adnan, Keser, Recep
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 03-07-2015
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; effective dose; environmental radioactivity; Female; Humans; hydrogen-3; Male; Middle Aged; Nuclear Power Plants; Radiation Dosage; Radiation Monitoring; Reference Values; Tritium - urine; Turkey; urine; Young Adult; Turkey; effective dose; hydrogen-3; environmental radioactivity; urine
• ISSN: 1025-6016; 1477-2639
• DOI: 10.1080/10256016.2015.1056182

The most widely used method to determine the level of tritium in humans is testing urine. Tritium concentrations in urine samples of 100 persons aged 18-66 years selected randomly from a pilot region in Turkey were analysed. The average activity concentration of urine samples was 4.66 ± 1.94 Bq L
−1
and the maximum activity concentration was 27.91 Bq L
−1
. The minimum detectable activity was 2.38 Bq L
−1
. The annual effective dose from tritium was also evaluated on the basis of the measurement results and reference values recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The effective doses for males and females were 4.56 and 3.54 nSv, respectively. These results were lower than the permissible annual effective dose for members of the public.