Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 10, 2026

Irradiator Commissioning and Dosimetry for Assessment of LQ α and β Parameters, Radiation Dosing Schema, and in vivo Dose Deposition
Published on: March 11, 2021
Concerning ionizing radiation-induced cancer from internally deposited radionuclides
1a Center for Health and the Environment, University of California , Davis, California , USA.
Purpose:
A comparative evaluation was conducted of ionizing radiation-induced cancer from internally deposited radionuclides.
Materials And Methods:
Data were evaluated for humans for (226)Ra, and for laboratory animal studies for alpha-emitters (228)Ra, (226)Ra, (224)Ra, (238)Pu, (239)Pu, (228)Th, (252)Cf, (249)Cf, and (241)Am, and for beta-emitters (90)Sr, (90)Y, (91)Y, and (144)Ce. Intake routes included ingestion, inhalation, and injection.
Results:
Cancer risk associated with protracted ionizing radiation exposure is a non-linear function of lifetime average dose rate to the affected tissues. The lifetime effects are best described by three-dimensional average-dose-rate/time/response surfaces that compete with other causes of death during an individual's lifetime. At the higher average dose rates the principal deleterious effects are those associated with radiation-induced injury, while at intermediate average dose rates radiation-induced cancer predominates.
Conclusions:
The cumulative radiation dose is neither an accurate nor an appropriate measure of cancer risk associated with protracted ionizing radiation exposure. At low average dose rates the long latency time required for radiation-induced cancer may exceed the natural lifespan yielding a lifespan virtual threshold for radiation-induced cancer for cumulative doses below about 5-10 Sv for bone, bone marrow and lungs.
Related Concept Videos
Biological Effects of Radiation
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Isotopes and Radioisotopes
An isotope containing...
Types of Radioactivity
Alpha (α) decay is the emission of an α particle from the nucleus. For example, polonium-210 undergoes α decay:
Nuclear Power
Nuclear Fuels
Nuclear fuel consists of a fissile isotope, such as uranium-235, which must be present in sufficient quantity to provide a...
X-ray Imaging

