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At least 37 records · Page 2

FY21 Progress of the Oak Ridge Health Physics Research Reactor CAAS Benchmark Evaluation [Slides]

The FY21 version of the evaluation, focusing on element 57 dose at 3 meters, was presented at the ICSBEP Technical Review Group meeting in October 2021 and was not accepted for 2022 publication in the handbook. The main issue was identified and replacement of the element 57 neutron dose benchmark metric by neutron fluence (closer to what was measured) is required. A subgroup was formed, confident for the updated neutron fluence evaluation to be accepted in the ICSBEP handbook. The updated evaluation will be presented again at the 2022 ICSBEP TRG for publication in the 2023 handbook.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Health Physics Innovations Developed During Cassini for Future Space Applications

The long history of space flight includes missions that used Space Nuclear Auxiliary Power devices, starting with the Transit 4A Spacecraft (1961), continuing through the Apollo, Pioneer, Viking, Voyager, Galileo, Ulysses, Mars Pathfinder, and most recently, Cassini (1997). All Major Radiological Source (MRS) missions were processed at Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Station (KSC/CCAS) Launch Site in full compliance with program and regulatory requirements. The cumulative experience gained supporting these past missions has led to significant innovations which will be useful for benchmarking future MRS mission ground processing. Innovations developed during ground support for the Cassini mission include official declaration of sealed-source classifications, utilization of a mobile analytical laboratory, employment of a computerized dosimetry record management system, and cross-utilization of personnel from related disciplines.

Nickell, Rodney E.↗

Evaluation of Oak Ridge National Laboratory Health Physics Research Reactor Operation Data for Criticality Accident Alarm System Benchmark Creation

Over the last few decades, the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) Working Group has focused on gathering critical and subcritical benchmark experiment data from different facilities around the world for inclusion in the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments (ICSBEP Handbook). The compiled data can be used by criticality safety analysts to help validate their calculation tools and cross-section libraries for a variety of applications.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Space age health care delivery

Space age health care delivery is being delivered to both NASA astronauts and employees with primary emphasis on preventive medicine. The program relies heavily on comprehensive health physical exams, health education, screening programs and physical fitness programs. Medical data from the program is stored in a computer bank so epidemiological significance can be established and better procedures can be obtained. Besides health care delivery to the NASA population, NASA is working with HEW on a telemedicine project STARPAHC, applying space technology to provide health care delivery to remotely located populations.

Jones, W. L.↗

Nuclear Engineering Enrollments and Degrees Survey, 2019 Data (Brief 82)

The 2019 survey includes degrees granted between September 1, 2018 and August 31, 2019, and enrollments for fall 2019. Thirty-four nuclear academic programs were surveyed with all but two programs responding. The enrollments and degrees data include students majoring in nuclear engineering or in an option program equivalent to a major. Some nuclear engineering programs have indicated that health physics option enrollments and degrees are also reported in the health physics enrollments and degrees survey.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Proceedings of the 1992 Annual Meeting NASA Occupational Health Program

The purpose of this meeting was to exchange information across NASA facilities that is critical to agency-wide improvement in the efforts to maintain and enhance employee health. The topics covered include the following: occupational medicine, environmental health, physical fitness, and health education.

Source record↗

Results for Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy Characterization of Residual Radioactivity on Personal Protective Clothing

In early 2019, Health Physics Services (HPS) personnel put together a test plan to use the shielded gamma-ray spectroscopy instruments in the Health Physics Services Technical Laboratory (HPSTL) to perform a series of measurements on laundered personal protective clothing used in radiological areas at the Savannah River Site (SRS). That test plan describes the methodology used to determine the quantities of laundry to be obtained from operational facilities, the methods for quality control checking the instruments throughout the measurement period, and the physical arrangement of samples in the counting shields. The test plan is documented in SRNS-J6700-2019-00037 (Reference 1).

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Systems and methods for control system security

A resilient security agent determines a cyber and/or physical health of a control system by, inter alia, communicating cyber-physical key data through cyber-physical control paths of the system, and determining error introduced by the communication. The resilient security agent may be further configured to verify the integrity of acquired cyber-physical state information. The cyber health of the control system may be evaluated by comparing the acquired cyber state information to one or more cyber state profiles. The physical health of the control system may be evaluated by comparing the acquired physical state information to one or more physical state profiles.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

INFLUENCE OF ACTN3 GENE ON MUSCLE HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS TO INFORM FUTURE INTERVENTIONS IN SPACEFLIGHT MISSIONS

INTRODUCTION: Exposure to reduced gravity environments leads to diminished muscle size, strength, and endurance. Preservation of physical fitness is critical for mission essential tasks such as extravehicular activities or adaptation to changes in gravity loads. Current countermeasures to maintain ISS astronauts’ muscle mass and fitness include dedicated time for a combination of cardiovascular exercise and resistance training. Countermeasure effectiveness is monitored through VO2 max and isometric mid-thigh pulls. It is important to understand both environmental and genetic contributors to astronaut physical fitness. Multiple genes, including ACTN3, are known to correlate with exercise phenotypes and have the potential to help personalize countermeasures based on an astronaut’s genotypic makeup. TOPIC: The ACTN3 gene encodes a protein expressed only in fast-twitch muscles and correlates with sprint and power phenotypes. A common polymorphism in ACTN3 gene is R577X (rs1815739), produced by a C−to−T base substitution resulting in a nonsense mutation from arginine (R) to a premature stop codon (X) present in approximately 18% of the population. This polymorphism causes an absence of α−actinin−3 in type II muscle fibers but does not lead to a disease phenotype. The RR genotype is associated with elite athletes, especially in sprint and power sports. The XX genotype is believed to be more common in endurance athletes. The ACTN3 gene also has potential associations with training adaptation, post-exercise recovery, and exercise-associated injuries. APPLICATION: Understanding how ACTN3 and other genetic determinates of fitness phenotypes affect astronaut physical performance can inform personalized exercise and recovery prescriptions. For example, individuals with the RR or RX genotype may respond better to high-load and low repetition exercise, while XX may benefit from high repetition with low weight exercise. Since the wild-type protein may confer more resistance to muscle damage, those individuals with the RR or RX genotype may benefit from high intensity interval training for improved VO2 max, whereas those with an XX genotype may benefit from low intensity, high volume endurance activity. Additionally, omics data related to health and performance could be used as biomarkers to monitor astronaut fitness and the effectiveness of training regimens during a mission. Learning objectives: • Learn about the phenotypic effects on muscle function and fitness secondary to R577X mutation in the ACTN3 gene • Learn how mutations in the ACTN3 gene may inform future countermeasures for future spaceflight missions

Lynn K Stanwyck↗

Radiation Protection [Slides]

Health Physics is a profession dedicated to the protection of human health and the environment from the dangers of radiation and radioactivity WHILE providing for its beneficial use.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

1985 Nuclear Science Symposium, 32nd, and 1985 Symposium on Nuclear Power Systems, 17th, San Francisco, CA, October 23-25, 1985, Proceedings

The present conference ranges over topics in high energy physics instrumentation, detectors, nuclear medical applications, health physics and environmental monitoring, reactor instrumentation, nuclear spacecraft instrumentation, the 'Fastbus' data acquisition system, circuits and systems for nuclear research facilities, and the development status of nuclear power systems. Specific attention is given to CCD high precision detectors, a drift chamber preamplifier, a Cerenkov ring imaging detector, novel scintillation glasses and scintillating fibers, a modular multidrift vertex detector, radial wire drift chambers, liquid argon polarimeters, a multianode photomultiplier, the reliability of planar silicon detectors, the design and manufacture of wedge and strip anodes, ultrafast triode photodetectors, photomultiplier tubes, a barium fluoride plastic scintillator, a fine grained neutron hodoscope, the stability of low leakage silicon photodiodes for crystal calorimeters, and X-ray proportional counters. Also considered are positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, Geiger-Muller detectors, nuclear plant safeguards, a 32-bit Fastbus computer, an advanced light water reactor, and nuclear plant maintenance.

Source record↗

1986 Nuclear Science Symposium, 33rd, and 1986 Symposium on Nuclear Power Systems, 18th, Washington, DC, Oct. 29-31, 1986, Proceedings

Papers are presented on space, low-energy physics, and general nuclear science instrumentations. Topics discussed include data acquisition systems and circuits, nuclear medicine imaging and tomography, and nuclear radiation detectors. Consideration is given to high-energy physics instrumentation, reactor systems and safeguards, health physics instrumentation, and nuclear power systems.

Stubblefield, F. W.↗

The Systems of Radiological Protection for Ionizing and Non-Ionizing Radiation

This paper summarizes the presentations and panel discussion held at Plenary Session 1 of the 16th IRPA International Congress/69th Health Physics Society Annual Meeting, in Orlando, FL, in July 2024. Plenary Session 1 discussed the basics of the systems of radiological protection (RP) for ionizing radiation (IR) and non-ionizing radiation (NIR) and included five presentations and a panel discussion. Rodney Croft, Chair of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), delivered the first presentation. Croft introduced the System of RP for NIR and provided an overview of ICNIRP’s coverage and current areas of work. Werner Rühm, Chair of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), delivered the second presentation. He gave an overview of the System of RP for IR and covered the key principles of justification, optimization, and dose limitation, including the current plans of ICRP toward the envisaged revision of the System of RP. The third speaker, Sigurður Magnús Magnússon, from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA), provided the perspective of the RP professionals on the development of the Systems of RP for IR and NIR. Emilie van Deventer, from the World Health Organization (WHO), presented WHO’s views of both Systems of RP and discussed the relevant current activities of WHO with regard to IR and NIR. Kathryn Higley, President of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), delivered the final presentation. Higley outlined the history of NCRP, the differences between ICRP and NCRP, and discussed the role of the NCRP in the System of RP, including NCRP’s role to analyze mechanisms of interaction of NIR with biological systems, including humans. The session concluded with a fruitful panel discussion, where the audience had the opportunity to ask the five invited speakers questions.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Nuclear Science Symposium, 31st and Symposium on Nuclear Power Systems, 16th, Orlando, FL, October 31-November 2, 1984, Proceedings

Topics related to physics instrumentation are discussed, taking into account cryostat and electronic development associated with multidetector spectrometer systems, the influence of materials and counting-rate effects on He-3 neutron spectrometry, a data acquisition system for time-resolved muscle experiments, and a sensitive null detector for precise measurements of integral linearity. Other subjects explored are concerned with space instrumentation, computer applications, detectors, instrumentation for high energy physics, instrumentation for nuclear medicine, environmental monitoring and health physics instrumentation, nuclear safeguards and reactor instrumentation, and a 1984 symposium on nuclear power systems. Attention is given to the application of multiprocessors to scientific problems, a large-scale computer facility for computational aerodynamics, a single-board 32-bit computer for the Fastbus, the integration of detector arrays and readout electronics on a single chip, and three-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation of the electron avalanche in a proportional counter.

Biggerstaff, J. A.↗