Physical Dosimetry at Nagasaki Europium-152 of Stone Embankment and Electron Spin Resonance of Teeth from Atomic Bomb Survivors

A Review of Forty-Five Years Study of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors I. DOSIMETRY

Abstract

Gamma-rays from thermal neutron-induced radionuclide of ¹⁵²Eu in rocks near the ground center of the atomic bomb (A-bomb) explosion (hypocenter) in Nagasaki were measured with a pure germanium semiconductor detector. Depth profiles of ¹⁵²Eu activity were obtained for 22 core samples taken from stone embankments on both sides of two rivers (the River Shimono-kawa and the River Urakami-gawa) within 500 m of the hypocenter since the activity in the rocks has a history of incident neutron energy. Although the activities of the surface sections were varied from sample to sample, the slopes of depth profile in rock and the value of ¹⁵²Eu activity in the depth of 240-280 mm were similar among the samples taken from the same location. On the other hand, neutron penetrating experiments using both a fast and a thermal neutron reactor were performed to obtain the relationship between the incident neutron energy spectra and the depth profiles of ¹⁵²Eu activity in rock. The depth profiles in the bomb exposed samples were close to that obtained by using a 10 mm polyethelene moderator in the reactor experiments.
Electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements from teeth of A-bomb survivors were carried out to estimate the individual gamma-ray dose of the survivors. The absorbed dose of ten tooth samples was estimated by ESR dosimetry. The results of ESR dosimetry were consistent with the calculations of tissue dose in air of A-bombs and irradiated shielding configuration of individuals.