Chromosome aberrations in workers occupationally exposed to tritium

This paper reports the findings of an historical chromosome analysis for unstable aberrations,
undertaken on 34 nuclear workers with monitored exposure to tritium. The mean recorded β -particle
dose from tritium was 9.33 mGy (range 0.25 –79.71 mGy) and the mean occupational dose from external,
mainly γ -ray, irradiation was 1.94 mGy (range 0.00–7.71 mGy). The dicentric frequency of
1.91  ± 0.53 × 10 −3 per cell was significantly raised, in comparison with that of 0.61 ± 0.30 × 10
−3 per cell for a group of 66 comparable worker controls unexposed to occupational radiation. The
frequency of total aberrations was also significantly higher in the tritium workers. Comparisons
with in vitro studies indicate that at these dose levels an increase in aberration frequency is not
expected. However, the available historical tritium dose records were produced for the purposes of
radiological protection and based on a methodology that has since been update...

Source: Journal of Radiological Protection - March 27, 2018 Category: Physics Authors: E Janet Tawn, Gillian B Curwen and Anthony E Riddell Source Type: research