Abstract
An Austrian miner with a well documented history of occupational exposure to radon and daughter products died aged 74 after 19 years of silicosis. At the autopsy a bronchial carcinoma was found in the left lung with metastasis elsewhere. Post-mortem radiochemical analyses were done on samples of his lung tissues and bones (sternum). 210Pb was determined alpha spectrometrically via 210Po and gave a lung content of 0.60 Bq.kg-1 (above normal range for non-exposed persons in Austria). The 226Ra content in the lung of 0.2 Bq.kg-1 from inhaled dust was also relatively high. These measurements have been performed by low level liquid scintillation spectrometry using a/ß pulse shape analysis after extraction of the Rn and its decay products into the non-water-miscible cocktail. Bone concentrations of 210Pb and 226Ra of 70 and (0.7 Bq.kg-1 (bone ash) respectively allowed calculation of his cumulative Rn exposure. Based on two different models the same value of about 4000 WLM could be assessed, taking into account the normal 210Pb content of 3.4 Bq.kg-1 (bone ash) measured on sternum and pelvic bone samples from non-occupationally exposed persons for comparison. The miner's cumulative Rn exposure agrees reasonably well with the estimated Rn exposure of 3800 WLM from his working records.
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