Real-case applications of luminescence retrospective dosimetry in small-scale radiological accidents

Retrospective dosimetry based on thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) using personal belongings was applied to a series of small‑scale radiological accidents that occurred in South Korea between 2015 and 2024. Display glasses and surface‑mounted resistors (SMR) extracted from mobile phones and electro-personal dosimeters (EPDs) of exposed individuals were analyzed using measurement protocols employed in multiple interlaboratory comparison (ILC) exercises. The reconstructed doses ranged from below the detection limit to several grays. In low‑dose cases (≤ 320 mGy), TL/OSL estimates aligned with those obtained from the dicentric chromosome assay (DCA). In contrast, discrepancies emerged in some high‑dose cases: in one accident, the mobile‑phone‑derived dose substantially exceeded the DCA estimate, whereas in another, the TL/OSL analysis revealed an exposure that DCA failed to detect. These findings confirm that luminescence techniques cannot yet serve as a stand‑alone tool for representing individual doses, but they can provide critical, scenario‑dependent complementary information to existing retrospective methods. The study also discusses the potential of the techniques and key considerations regarding regulatory and technical perspectives for their practical implementation in real-world scenarios.