2004 update of dosimetry for the Utah Thyroid Cohort Study

In the 1980s, individual thyroid doses and uncertainties were estimated for members of a cohort of children identified in 1965 in Utah and Nevada who had potentially been exposed to fallout from the Nevada Test Site. That reconstruction represented the first comprehensive assessment of doses received by the cohort and was the first large effort to assess the uncertainty of dose on an individual person basis. The data on dose and thyroid disease prevalence during different periods were subsequently used in an analysis to determine risks of radiogenic thyroid disease. This cohort has received periodic medical follow-up to observe changes in disease frequency and to reassess the previously reported radiation-related risks, most recently after a Congressional mandate in 1998. In a recent effort to restore the databases and computer codes used to estimate doses in the 1980s, various deficiencies were found in the estimated doses due to improperly operating computer codes, corruption of secondary data files, and lack of quality control procedures. From 2001 through 2004, the dosimetry system was restored and corrected and all doses were recalculated. In addition, two parameter values were updated. While the mean of all doses has not changed significantly, many individual doses have changed by more than an order of magnitude.