~15 Technical S taff Officesacrossthe US A E xpertise in - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

• ~15 Technical S taff • Officesacrossthe US A • E xpertise in • Work for government and private industry

• Discusshistorical interest in thorium • Introduce some HPissuesspecificto handling thorium • R elate past experience handlingthorium

• The Department of Labor, NIOS H, and DOE run acompensation program for weapons workers • C ompensation decision requiresradiation dose-reconstruction • R econstructingthorium doseshasproved challenging– why?

• Thorium isn’t very radioactive, but it hashas5 short-lived, alphaemittingdaughters– it packsa punch! • Thorium mostly staysin the lungafter an inhalation • Detectingathorium intake isvery challenging • E xternal dosesfrom U-232 are significant • Health physicsissuesand radiological controlswill need to be appropriately addressed in the thorium fuel cycle and in reactor design phases