This manuscript provides risk estimators for acute lethality from radiation‐induced injury to the bone marrow of humans after uniform total‐body exposure to low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation. The risk estimators are needed for nuclear disaster risk assessment. The approach used is based on the doseX, in units ofD50(i.e., the dose required for 50 lethality). Using animal data, it is demonstrated that the use of dose in units ofD50eliminates most of the variability associated with mammalian species, type of low‐LET radiation, and low‐LET dose rate. Animal data are used to determine the shape of the dose‐effect curve for marrow‐syndrome lethality in man and to develop a functional relationship for the dependence of theD50on dose rate. The functional relationship is used, along with the Weibull model, to develop acute lethality risk estimators for complex temporal patterns of continuous exposure to low‐LET radiation. Animal data are used to test mode
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