Neutron activation of sulfur in hair: application in a nuclear accident dosimetry study.

Abstract

Incident fast neutron doses sustained by personnel involved in the Wood River Junction, United Nuclear Corporation criticality accident of 24 July 1964, have been estimated from induced 32P activity in hair sulfur. Fast neutron doses to the head and pubis of the fatally injured victim were 1200 and 4800 rad respectively, corresponding to total gamma plus neutron dose estimates of ∼11,000 and 48,000 rad. Identification of 32P in hair samples from two individuals who entered the area later confirmed the notion that the system either remained critical or that a second excursion occurred. Comparison with the Los Alamos fatality of 1958 indicates that, although doses to the pelvis differed by a factor of 40 and the average total body dose may have differed by about a factor of 3, doses to the head may have been essentially the same (10,000 rad). Similarities in clinical course and survival of the two cases may reflect the approximately equivalent doses to the upper torso and head. These observations suggest that debilitation from massive radiation exposure may be more dependent on dose to the head and thorax than on average total body dose.