Transcript Radioactivity and the Environment United States Embassy

Public Health Response to the Fukushima
Dai’ichi Nuclear Crisis
Baltimore-Washington Chapter, HPS
Annual Meeting
May 11, 2012
CAPT Michael A. Noska, M.S.
US Public Health Service
Senior Advisor for Health Physics
US Food and Drug Administration
Scope of Presentation
Domestic interagency response
Joint Forces (Force protection)
International (including gov’t → gov’t and
support of US citizens in Japan)
Food Safety Assessments
CONUS Response
All key rad agencies activated EOCs
(2-3 shifts per day)
Federal Radiological Preparedness
Coordinating Committee (FRPCC)
National Security Staff
Interagency Task Groups
DOE: NARAC/IMAAC
Advisory Team
The Advisory Team for the
Environment, Food and Health
The mission of the A-Team is to provide
coordinated advice and recommendations to the
State, Coordinating Agency, and DHS concerning
environmental, food, and health matters.
Membership is comprised principally of :
and other Federal agencies as needed
Advisory Team Duties Overview
Advisory Team provides
recommendations in matters related to
Environmental assessments (field
monitoring) required for developing
recommendations;
Protective Action Guides and their
application to the emergency;
Protective Action Recommendations
using data and assessments from
FRMAC;
Advisory Team Duties Overview (cont.)
Recommendations to prevent or
minimize exposure through the
ingestion pathway from contaminated
milk, food, and water;
Recommendations regarding the
disposition of contaminated livestock,
poultry, and foods;
Recommendations for minimizing
losses of agricultural resources;
Advisory Team Duties Overview (cont.)
Guidance on availability of clean food,
animal feed, and water supply
inspection programs to assure
wholesomeness;
Recommendations on relocation,
reentry, and other radiation protection
measures prior to recovery;
Recommendations for recovery, return,
and cleanup issues;
Advisory Team Duties Overview (cont.)
Estimated effects of radioactive releases on
human health and the environment;
Recommendations on the use of medical
countermeasures (e.g., thyroid blocking
agents, chelators, etc.);
Health and safety advice or information for
the public and for emergency workers; and
Other matters as requested by Incident
Command, the coordinating agency, or State
and local agencies.
Domestic Issues Addressed
Modeling of potential plumes and water currents
Contamination of imported products
– Import Bulletins and Alerts
– Monitoring guidance
Potential contamination of domestic products
– Food, milk, water
– Seafood
Medical Countermeasures
Operation Tomodachi
USA Public Health Command
USA Vet Command
PACOM
USFJ
DTRA, AFRRI, AFRAT
DOE/FRMAC
The “Health Team”
HHS response based on request from US Ambassador
to Japan
Mission: Provide health advice and support to Embassy
staff and families, American citizens living in Japan, US
military and families and the Government of Japan.
“Health Team” deployed 3/15/11 as part of DART:
– Rad SME/Medical planner from HHS/ASPR
– SNS expert from CDC
– Risk communicator from CDC
– DoD Liaison (PACOM)
Second deployment 3/29/11:
– Health Physicist (food and water) from FDA
– Health Physicist (risk assessor) from NCI
Third deployment 5/9/11
Major Activities
Collaboration with interagency representatives
at Embassy (NRC, DOE, USDA, DoD)
Consultation with Embassy staff, including
health, security and safety
Daily briefings at Embassy
Data interpretation (food, water, air)
PARs/Travel Advisories
Meetings with GoJ representatives
Outreach
We’re Not Alone
Major Activities
Collaboration with interagency representatives
at Embassy (NRC, DOE, USDA)
Consultation with Embassy staff, including
health, security and safety
Daily briefings at Embassy
Data interpretation (food, water, air)
PARs/Travel Advisories
Meetings with GoJ representatives
Outreach
Outreach
Four Sessions:
– US Embassy
– American Chamber of Commerce in Tokyo
– American Citizens (at ACCJ twice)
Topics:
– Radiation basics
– Food and water protection
– Radiation risk
http://japan2.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacshealth.html
Food Safety Assessment
FDA PAGs/DILs
Codex
Japanese approach
Other assessments
FDA Guidelines (1998)
DIL (Bq/kg) =
PAG (mSv)
f*Intake (kg)*DC (mSv/Bq)
PAG: 5 mSv CEDE or 50 mSv CDE
f: fraction of food supply contaminated,
30 or 100%
Intake: Annual consumption based on total diet
DC: Dose conversion factors from ICRP 56, NRPB
Derived Intervention Levels (Bq/kg)
Radionuclide Group
DIL
Sr-90
160 (15 years)
I-131
170 (1 year)
Cs group
1200 (adult)
Ru-103
6800 (3 months)
Ru-106
450 (3 months)
Pu+Am group
2 (3 months)
Codex Alimentarius (2010)
E = GL(A) * M(A) * eing(A) * IPF
E: mean internal dose of public (mSv)
GL(A): guideline level (Bq/kg)
M(A): age-dependent food consumption (kg)
eing(A): age-dependent ingestion coefficient (mSv/Bq)
IPF: import/production factor (unitless)
(Comparable to f in DIL equation)
Based on 1 mSv PAG (annual)
(Codex Standard 193-1995)
Guideline Levels (Bq/kg)
Product
Nuclides
GL
Infant food
Pu-238, Pu-239, Pu-240,
Am-241
1
Infant food
Sr-90, Ru-106, I-129, I-131,
U-235
100
Infant food
S-35, Co-60, Sr-89, Ru-103,
Cs-134, Cs-137, Ce-144, Ir-192
1000
Infant food
Other than infant
H-3, C-14, Tc-99
1000
10
Pu-238, Pu-239, Pu-240,
Am-241
Other than infant
Sr-90, Ru-106, I-129, I-131,
U-235
100
Other than infant
S-35, Co-60, Sr-89, Ru-103,
Cs-134, Cs-137, Ce-144, Ir-192
1000
Other than infant
H-3, C-14, Tc-99
10000
Japanese Index Levels
Based on 5/50 mSv PAG
Assume food contaminated at 50 or 100%
Different food classes
Dose distributed over all food classes for
Cesium
30% of PAG for I-131 distributed to thyroid
Index Levels (Bq/kg)
Nuclide
Food Group
Index level
Iodine
Water, Milk, Dairy
Vegetables, fish
300/100
2000
Cesium
Water, Milk, Dairy
200
500
Vegetable, grain, meat,
eggs, fish
Uranium
Infant food, Water, Milk,
Dairy
Vegetable, grain, meat,
eggs, fish
20
100
Alpha
Infant food, Water, Milk,
Dairy
Vegetable, grain, meat,
eggs, fish
1
10
Summary
Nuclide
US/FDA
Codex
Japan
I-131
170
100
100/300/2000
Cesium
1200
1000
200/500
Sr-90
160
100
-
Alpha
2
1/10
1/10
Revised Japanese Standards
Category
Commodity
Drinks
Mineral waters (soft
drinks produced from
water only)
Maximum Limit
(Bq/kg)
10 (200)
Tea and tea Leaves
for drinking
Milk
Milk and milk products 50 (200)
Infant Foods
Food and drinks sold
50 (200/500)
as intended for infants
General Foods
Food other than items
given above
100 (500)
Assessment for Rice Planting
Operational Guidelines Taskgroup
RESRAD-RDD
Japanese data on root transfer factors
National data on Japanese consumption
ICRP 72 DCFs
Cs-137: 5.4 E5 Bq/m2
Sr-90: 2.5 E5 Bq/m2
Japanese levels = 1000-5000 Bq/kg soil
Abstract for 56th HPS Annual Meeting
Radiological Assessment for the Japanese Nuclear Incident
Regarding Planting of Rice
C. Yu1, J.-J. Cheng1, C. Corredor2, M. Noska3, E. Regnier2, and A. Wallo2
1
Argonne National Laboratory, 2U. S. Department of Energy, 3U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The recent Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant incident raised many questions regarding the
potential for radiological exposure and dose from ingestion of contaminated food. This paper presents the
results of a radiological assessment that was conducted to answer the question whether rice could be
grown safely for human consumption in Japanese soil contaminated with Cs-137 and Sr-90. The
RESRAD-RDD code developed by Argonne National Laboratory (www.evs.anl.gov/resrad) was used for
this assessment. Based on a literature review, the root uptake transfer factors for rice used in this analysis
are 0.6 and 0.1 (dimensionless) for Cs-137 and Sr-90, respectively. The rice consumption rate for the
Japanese population is estimated to be 66.2 kg per year. This is a conservative (high) estimate of the
intake rate based on Japanese national data collected in 2006. International Commission on Radiological
Protection (ICRP)-72 age-dependent dose conversion factors were used for dose calculations. Argonne
National Laboratory’s RESRAD-RDD code Group G subgroup 3 uses Planning Values (PVs) to calculate
operational guidelines, which are measurable quantities such as areal soil deposition or soil concentration
that can be related to a protective action guide (dose). The PVs are derived on the basis of an annual dose
of either 5 mSv effective dose or 50 mSv committed dose to an organ or tissue, whichever is more
limiting. The PVs are essentially the same as the Derived Intervention Levels (DILs) developed by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but calculated using the updated (ICRP-72) dose conversion factors.
The operational guidelines calculated for Cs-137 and Sr-90 for planting/growing rice are 5.4×105 Bq/m2
and 2.5×105 Bq/m2, respectively. This implies that if the surface soil concentrations are lower than these
operational guidelines, the potential dose from eating rice grown in the contaminated soil will most likely
be less than 5 mSv per year effective dose and 50 mSv per year committed dose to any organ or tissue.
The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator
of Argonne National Laboratory (“Argonne”). Argonne, a U.S. Department of
Energy Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract
No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others
acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in said
article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and
perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government.
* Argonne National Laboratory’s work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Health, Safety
and Security, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357.
Acknowledgements
Health Team
– Norm Coleman, MD, PhD (NCI/HHS-ASPR)
– Steve Simon, PhD (NCI)
– CAPT Tom Bowman, MS, USPHS (CDC)
– Ms. Jana Telfer, MS (CDC)
– CAPT Michele Hancock, MD, USN (PACOM)
– CAPT Joe Hughart, USPHS (USAID/DART)
NRC, DOE, DoD, USDA, Embassy Staff
Government of Japan