Spatial and temporal distribution of energy

Abstract

Abstraet-Studies of the spatial and temporal distribution of microscopic radiation doses lead to potentially important questions regarding conventional approaches to radiation protection. The short ranges of alpha-particle and Auger-electron emissions from radionuclides lead to uncertainties in assessing their hazards. The conventional extrapolations from intermediate doses to low doses and dose rates are questioned by observed dose-rate effects in the so-called “initial slope,” by the total lack of data for single tracks in cells and by the possibility of multiple-cell effects. At all subcellular levels, even dawn to DNA, high linear-energy-transfer (LET) radiations can produce unique initial damage, different from that possible with low-LET radiations, and therefore may even, in principle, produce unique final biological effects. This questions simple extrapolations from low- to high-LET radiations and the application of universal quality factors to diverse effects. Further understanding of these questions could lead, in future, to substantial increases or decreases in estimations of risk. © 1988 Health Physics Society.