Performance comparisons of selected personnel-dosimetry systems in use at Department of Energy facilities
Dosimeter performance data were collected to help develop a uniform approach to the calibration and use of personnel dosimetry systems for Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories. Eleven DOE laboratories participated in six months of testing using the American National Draft Standard, Criteria for Testing Personnel Dosimetry Performance, ANSI N13.11, and additional testing categories. The tests described in ANSI N13.11 used a pass/fail system to determine compliance with the draft standard. Recalculation to PNL irradiations showed that the /sup 137/Cs, /sup 90/Sr//sup 90/Y, and /sup 252/Cf categories can be recalibrated to have acceptable performance for nearly all participant systems. Deficient dosimeter design or handling techniques caused poor performance in the x-ray category for nearly half of the participants. Too little filtration for the deep-dose element caused poor performance in the beta/photon mixture category for one participant. Two participants had excessively high standard deviations in the neutron category due to dosimeter design or handling deficiencies. The participating dosimetry systems were separated into three categories on their dose evaluation procedure for low-energy photons. These were film dosimeters, fixed-calibration thermoluminescent (TL) dosimeters, and variable-calibration TL dosimeters. The performance of the variable-calibration design was best while the film dosimeters performed considerably worse than either TL dosimeter design. Beta energy dependence studies confirmed a strong correlation between sensitive element thickness, shallow element filtration and low-energy beta response. Studies of neutron calibration conditions for each participant suggested a relationship between response and calibration facility design.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 5746458
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-3983; ON: DE84001810
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
DOSEMETERS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PERSONNEL DOSIMETRY
INTERLABORATORY COMPARISONS
ACCURACY
BETA PARTICLES
CALIBRATION
ENERGY DEPENDENCE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
NEUTRONS
STANDARDS
X RADIATION
BARYONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
DATA
DOSIMETRY
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
HADRONS
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NUCLEONS
NUMERICAL DATA
RADIATIONS
TESTING
440102* - Radiation Instrumentation- Radiation Dosemeters
655003 - Medical Physics- Dosimetry