Abstract
Biological effect of neutrons is generally larger than that of low-LET radiation. For the risk assessment of neutron exposure, it is important to evaluate RBE. ICRP determines radiation-weighted factor (wR) for neutron by referring to the RBE of chromosome aberration, mouse life shortening and rat tumor induction (ICRP Publication 92).
Many animal studies on neutron carcinogenesis have been conducted to determine RBE, but its value varies among the species and strain of animals used and the tissue examined. The data regarding energy dependency is still lacking. To extrapolate the animal data to human, the precise dose estimation and energy distribution in target tissues are also needed. Taken together, both experimental and theoretical evaluation of physico-biological effects of neutrons on target tissues is important for the estimation for wR.
In this workshop, current topics of neutron RBE and neutron sources in NIRS will be discussed.
