Calculation of dose conversion factors for doses in the fingernails to organ doses at external gamma irradiation in air

•Elemental composition and density of nails were determined.•MIRD-type mathematical human phantom with arms and hands was created.•Organ doses and doses to nails were calculated for external photon exposure in air.•Effective dose and nail doses values are close for rotational and soil surface exposures.

Absorbed doses to fingernails and organs were calculated for a set of homogenous external gamma-ray irradiation geometries in air. The doses were obtained by stochastic modeling of the ionizing particle transport (Monte Carlo method) for a mathematical human phantom with arms and hands placed loosely along the sides of the body. The resulting dose conversion factors for absorbed doses in fingernails can be used to assess the dose distribution and magnitude in practical dose reconstruction problems.For purposes of estimating dose in a large population exposed to radiation in order to triage people for treatment of acute radiation syndrome, the calculated data for a range of energies having a width of from 0.05 to 3.5 MeV were used to convert absorbed doses in fingernails to corresponding doses in organs and the whole body as well as the effective dose. Doses were assessed based on assumed rates of radioactive fallout at different time periods following a nuclear explosion.