Abstract:
A thesis presented on the determination of factors related to deposition, clearance, and dosimetry of the ICRP 30 lung model as related to smoking. Variations in calculations used to determine radiation doses leave a need to determine a standard method to determine absorbed dose from smoking. Standard parameters are used based upon recent studies, and the ICRP 30 lung model is used because of the fact that most regulatory bodies are not yet familiar with new ICRP lung models. Po-210 was chosen as a radionuclide to validate the model due to the presence of a dose conversion factor in regulatory literature, available data as related to smoking, and recent attention brought by the Litvinenko spy case. Results show a consistency with published scientific findings, with a dose conversion factor for the tracheobronchial region of 3.71 x 10⁻³ Sv/Bq. More attention is required however to produce a more accurate dose conversion factor to account for shortcomings inherent within this model.
