Following a radiological or nuclear emergency, first responders and the public may become internally contaminated with radioactive materials, as demonstrated during the Goiânia, Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. Timely monitoring of the affected populations for potential internal contamination, assessment of radiation dose and the provision of necessary medical treatment are required to minimize the health risks from the contamination. This paper summarizes the guidelines and tools that have been developed, and identifies the gaps and priorities for future projects.

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Following a radiation emergency, children may be internally contaminated by the radionuclide(s) involved. Timely assessment of the contamination informs the need for medical treatment for those persons who had significant intakes and reassures those whose intakes are not a medical concern. In vitro bioassay reference values for children of all ICRP age groups are derived for 30 contamination scenario/radionuclide combinations involving 13 radionuclides. These bioassay values are derived from an intake that leads to a 70-y committed effective dose of 50 mSv or a 30-d RBE-weighted absorbed dose to the lungs of 0.2 Gy-Eq, depending on which criterion is more strict. These values are presented in a collection of lookup tables that can be used directly as references.