Hazards for pregnant women and nursing mothers working in nuclear fusion laboratories

Objective: investigating some biological side effects of radiations resulted from fusion reaction experiments in damavad tokamak.materials and methods: the absorbed dose of the personnel in damavand tokamak was measured using lif dosimeters and analyzed. results: in damavand in areas near the forbidden zone around this device the level of the received dose is very high (more than 6 msv for each 100 shots) and in regions around the control panel and shielding room that personnel usually attend the level of the effective absorbed dose is about 1.16 msv for each 100 shots. in each working period in damavand tokamak about 100 shots are being done weekly. hence, each of the personnel will absorb about 5×1.16= 5.8 msv that is very high for a short period (5 days).conclusion: managers of the fusion laboratories must govern personnel's duties properly and arrange female working conditions in critical situations of their lives. therefore, it is recommended that the contribution of the pregnant women must not be more than 60 shots per month and it is better to be decreased to 55, because they absorb some extra doses from the experiments with other device while attending to the building of laboratory.