Integration of new biological and physical retrospective dosimetry methods into EU emergency response plans – joint RENEB and EURADOS inter-laboratory comparisons

Abstract

Purpose: RENEB, ‘Realising the European Network of Biodosimetry and Physical Retrospective Dosimetry,’ is a network for research and emergency response mutual assistance in biodosimetry within the EU. Within this extremely active network, a number of new dosimetry methods have recently been proposed or developed. There is a requirement to test and/or validate these candidate techniques and inter-comparison exercises are a well-established method for such validation.

Materials and methods: The authors present details of inter-comparisons of four such new methods: dicentric chromosome analysis including telomere and centromere staining; the gene expression assay carried out in whole blood; Raman spectroscopy on blood lymphocytes, and detection of radiation-induced thermoluminescent signals in glass screens taken from mobile phones.

Results: In general the results show good agreement between the laboratories and methods within the expected levels of uncertainty, and thus demonstrate that there is a lot of potential for each of the candidate techniques.

Conclusions: Further work is required before the new methods can be included within the suite of reliable dosimetry methods for use by RENEB partners and others in routine and emergency response scenarios.

Keywords:

• Biodosimetry
• physical retrospective dosimetry
• radiation accidents
• RENEB

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Corrigendum

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the wider members of the RENEB consortium and the Advisory Board members for their support of this work and M. Di Giorgio for the use of the spreadsheet for calculating robust statistics.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are response for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding

This work was supported by the EU within the 7th Framework Programme [RENEB project, grant agreement No. 295513] and partly supported by the European Radiation Dosimetry Group [EURADOS; WG10].