Luana Hafner, ENSI’s radiation protection expert, receives the young scientist award from the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP)

23 November 2022 News, Posts, Radiation Protection, International Affairs

Luana Hafner, a specialist in radiological safety at ENSI, has been awarded the “Cousins Award for Young Scientists and Professionals” at the Sixth International Symposium on the System of Radiological Protection, in Vancouver.

The ICRP awarded the Cousins Award for Young Scientists and Professionals for the first time at the Sixth International Symposium on the System of Radiological Protection, which took place from 7 to 10 November in Vancouver, Canada. The young scientists’ award went to Luana Hafner, specialist in radiological protection at ENSI. A panel of international experts assessed the quality of the scientific research and its presentation at this year’s symposium “ICRP 2021+1”. ENSI’s radiation protection expert, Luana Hafner, triumphed over three other finalists with her work on “The Impact of Different Neutron RBEs on the All Solid Cancer Radiation Incident Risks Obtained from the Japanese A-bomb Survivors Data”.

Hafner’s presentation was based on her scientific article on new findings in the calculation of tumour risks. In collaboration with epidemiologists Linda Walsh and Werner Rühm, she presented a model with which tumour risks can be calculated for higher neutron biological effectivenesses using data from the atomic bomb survivors.

The award was established by former ICRP Chair Dr Claire Cousins. Eligibility is restricted to those who gained their postgraduate degree within the past five years.

24 April 2023

Corrigendum to scientific article

The methods used to calculate the risk of cancer differ in their area of application and have differing benefits and drawbacks. The “cumulative risk assessment method” is, however, more favoured. This was the conclusion drawn by Luana Hafner, radiation protection expert at ENSI, and epidemiologist Linda Walsh as part of a scientific study published by the Journal of Radiological Protection.

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5 October 2022

ENSI publishes scientific paper on the latest findings in the calculation of tumour risks

Using data derived from Japanese atomic bomb survivors, previous calculations of the risks of radiation-induced solid tumours overestimate the risk. This is the conclusion of a scientific paper by ENSI employee Luana Hafner, in cooperation with epidemiologists Linda Walsh and Werner Rühm

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«Thanks to modern radiation protection and technical progress, individual and collective doses in nuclear facilities have continuously decreased»

ENSI took part in the third IAEA International Conference on Occupational Radiation Protection from 5 to 9 September 2022.

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Ionising radiation can cause sicknesses. In order to protect the population and personnel working in nuclear installations from these harmful effects, it must be possible to measure radiation doses at any time and as accurately as possible.

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10 February 2022

Radiation Biology (3/5): Low doses and their damage potential

There is no question in radiation biology that the severity of sickness increases at high doses. Nevertheless, it is important when considering everyday radiation protection to be able to estimate the risk of a mutation of the genetic material, and thus the risk of cancer, even in the low dose range.

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3 February 2022

Radiation Biology (2/5): Sickness after high doses

With high doses, the severity of the radiation effect increases beyond that of a threshold dose. While the chances of survival up to a certain radiation exposure remain unaffected, very high doses, such as those measured on the Chernobyl site after the reactor accident, will lead to death within a very short time period.

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27 January 2022

Radiation Biology (1/5): On the Trail of Ionising Radiation

The discovery of X-rays triggered an explosion of interest. The euphoria was, however, tempered as more and more information became known about the side effects. Radiation biology examines how radiation acts on cells and tissues.

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5 December 2018

Series of articles on barriers 6/6: The containment holds radioactive substances in the reactor building

The reactor pressure vessel is enclosed by the containment as the third barrier. This consists of a steel primary containment and a concrete secondary containment.

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