Skin dose calculations for uranium fuel particles below 500 microns in diameter

Two different methods for skin dose calculations, VARSKIN Mod 2 and PSS are compared for a spherical uranium fuel particle (diameter 1-500 microns) deposited on the skin. Nuclide-specific beta dose rate at different skin depths for a particle of unit activity is determined as a function of particle size. Both methods show that the effects of self-shielding must be included in the dose calculations for low and medium energy beta emitters. Skin dose rate is drastically overestimated when point source approximation is used. For high energy beta emitters (e.g., 90Y, 106Rh, and 144Pr) the volume source can be approximated as a point source. The difference in doses is then below 20% for particles up to 100 microns in diameter. The models give equal results deep in the skin (in terms of range of the beta particles). The reason is that the correction due to the diminished backscattering in air-tissue interface is insignificant at large distances. For three-dimensional sources the backscattering correction should be introduced in the VARSKIN Mod 2.