Reassessment of radiation exposures of underground non-uranium mine workers in Western Australia

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Radiation protection dosimetry

Volume

191

Issue

3

First Page

272

Last Page

287

PubMed ID

33095242

Publisher

Oxford University Press

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences

RAS ID

32340

Comments

Ralph, M. I., Hinckley, S., & Cattani, M. (2020). Reassessment of radiation exposures of underground non-uranium mine workers in Western Australia. Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 191(3), 272-287. https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncaa131

Abstract

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com. In the 1990, radon and radon progeny was reported to contribute approximately 70% of the average 1.4 + 1.0-mSv annual dose across 26 Western Australian underground non-uranium mines. The Western Australian underground mining workforce has expanded significantly, and parameters used to calculate doses have changed significantly, warranting a review of the 1990's data. The review concludes that doses received by the contemporary mining workforce has increased on average, by 5.4%, with annual dose estimates ranging from 0.53 to 3.56 mSv, with a mean of 1.33 mSv. Doses in 12 of the 23 underground mines exceed 1 mSv and are required to comply with radiation safety legislation. It is estimated that 5400 underground workers will fall into the greater than 1-mSv category. The collective dose to the underground worker population has increased by 4.5 times from 3060 man mSv (2173 workers) to 13 669 man mSv (8597 workers).

DOI

10.1093/rpd/ncaa131

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