Daniels Robert D, Schubauer-Berigan Mary K
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 2017 Nov 1;176(3):278-286. doi: 10.1093/rpd/ncx007.
Exposure to naturally occurring radon is unavoidable and is second only to smoking as a direct cause of lung cancer in the USA. The literature for existing information on US occupations that are prone to increased radon exposures was reviewed. Current recommendations and applicable protective standards against occupational radon exposure that are applicable to US workers are discussed. Exposure varied widely among several working populations, most of whom were employed in industries that were unrelated to the uranium fuel cycle. Radon protection standards differed among agencies and have not changed since the height of domestic uranium production in the 1970s. In contrast, European countries are adopting recommendations by the International Commission on Radiation Protection to set a reference level near a derived annual exposure of about one working level month, which is 25% of the level currently established for US miners.
在美国，接触天然存在的氡是不可避免的，氡是导致肺癌的直接原因，仅次于吸烟。对关于美国易受氡暴露增加影响的职业的现有信息文献进行了审查。讨论了适用于美国工人的当前关于职业性氡暴露的建议和适用的防护标准。在几个工作人群中，接触情况差异很大，其中大多数人受雇于与铀燃料循环无关的行业。各机构的氡防护标准不同，自20世纪70年代国内铀产量高峰期以来一直没有改变。相比之下，欧洲国家正在采纳国际辐射防护委员会的建议，设定一个接近每年约一个工作水平月的导出暴露量的参考水平，这是目前为美国矿工设定水平的25%。
