Intercomparison of high energy neutron personnel dosimeters

Conference · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:10107399

McDonald, J C; Akabani, G ^[1]; Loesch, R M ^[2]

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1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
2. USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)

An intercomparison of high-energy neutron personnel dosimeters was performed to evaluate the uniformity of the response characteristics of typical neutron dosimeters presently in use at US Department of Energy (DOE) accelerator facilities. It was necessary to perform an intercomparison because there are no national or international standards for high-energy neutron dosimetry. The testing that is presently under way for the Department of Energy Laboratory Accreditation Program (DOELAP) is limited to the use of neutron sources that range in energy from about 1 keV to 2 MeV. Therefore, the high-energy neutron dosimeters presently in use at DOE accelerator facilities are not being tested effectively. This intercomparison employed neutrons produced by the {sup 9}Be(p,n){sup 9}B interaction at the University of Washington cyclotron, using 50-MeV protons. The resulting neutron energy spectrum extended to a maximum of approximately 50-MeV, with a mean energy of about 20-MeV. Intercomparison results for currently used dosimeters, including Nuclear Type A (NTA) film, thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD)-albedo, and track-etch dosimeters (TEDs), indicated a wide variation in response to identical doses of high-energy neutrons. Results of this study will be discussed along with a description of plans for future work.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 10107399
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA--22048; CONF-9303220--4; ON: DE95004563
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440102
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
560101
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
ACCELERATORS
BERYLLIUM 9 TARGET
CHARGE-EXCHANGE REACTIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DOSEMETERS
DOSIMETRY AND MONITORING
EVALUATION
NEUTRON DOSIMETRY
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PERSONNEL DOSIMETRY
PROTON REACTIONS
RADIATION DOSEMETERS
RADIATION PROTECTION