National Nuclear Energy Commission

About: National Nuclear Energy Commission is a government organization based out in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Dosimetry & Laser. The organization has 3816 authors who have published 4694 publications receiving 59951 citations.

A protocol for the calibration of gamma cameras to estimate internal contamination in emergency situations

Abstract: The concern about accidents involving radioactive materials has led to the search of alternative methods to quickly identify and quantify radionuclides in workers and in the population. One of the options to face up an eventual demand for mass monitoring of internal contamination is the use of a nuclear medicine diagnostic equipment known as gamma camera, a device used to scan patients who have been administered specific amounts of radioactive materials for medical purposes. Although the gamma camera is used for image diagnosis, it can be calibrated with anthropomorphic phantoms or point sources for the quantification of radionuclide activities in the human body. This work presents a protocol for the calibration of gamma cameras for such application. In order to evaluate the suitability of this type of equipment, a gamma camera available in a public hospital located in Rio de Janeiro was calibrated for the in vivo measurement of 131I. The calibration includes the determination of detection efficiencies and minimum detectable activities for each radionuclide. The results show that the gamma camera presents enough sensitivity to detect activity levels corresponding to effective doses below 1 mSv. The protocol is the basis to establish a network of Nuclear Medicine Centres, located in public hospitals in eight countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay) and in Spain that could be requested to collaborate in remediation actions in the event of an accident involving incorporation of radioactive materials. This protocol is one of the most significant outputs of the IAEA-ARCAL Project (RLA/9/049-LXXVIII) aimed to the Harmonization of Internal Dosimetry Procedures.

Influence of synthesis temperature on the structural characteristics of mesoporous silica

Abstract: The characteristics of mesoporous silica prepared at different temperatures and the behavior of this system relating to the microencapsulation of a model drug were investigated. The preparation of mesoporous materials was initiated with the dissolution of a surfactant in distilled water and strong acid medium. After this, tetraethyl orthosilicate was added under agitation. The mixture was heated for 24 h at the synthesis temperature (60 °C, 80 °C, 100 °C and 130 °C) under static conditions. The surfactant was removed by calcination, which was carried out by increasing the temperature to 550 °C for 5 h. Atenolol was used as a model drug to study the kinetics of drug delivery. It could be observed that aging materials at higher temperatures presents no microporosity, and this influences the control of the release of the model drug.