EXPERIENCE MONITORING FOR LOW LEVEL NEUTRON RADIATION AT THE H-CANYON AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE

Journal Article · Fri Oct 07 04:00:00 EDT 2005

OSTI ID:890071

HOGUE, MARK

Department of Energy contractors are required to monitor external occupational radiation exposure of an individual likely to receive an effective dose equivalent to the whole body of 0.1 rem (0.001sievert) or more in a year. For a working year of 2000 hours, this translates to a dose rate of 0.05 mrem/hr (0.5 {micro}Sv/hr). This can be a challenging requirement for neutron exposure because traditional surveys with shielded BF{sub 3} proportional counters are difficult to conduct, particularly at low dose rates. A modified survey method was used at the Savannah River Site to find low dose rates in excess of 0.05 mrem/hr. An unshielded He{sup 3} detector was used to find elevated gross slow neutron counts. Areas with high count rates on the unshielded He{sup 3} detector were further investigated with shielded BF{sub 3} proportional counters and thermoluminescent neutron dosimeters were placed in the area of interest. An office area was investigated with this method. The data initially suggested that whole body neutron dose rates to office workers could be occurring at levels significantly higher than 0.1 rem (0.001sievert). The final evaluation, however, showed that the office workers were exposed to less than 0.1 rem/yr (0.001sievert/yr) of neutron radiation.

• Research Organization: SRS
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-96SR18500
• OSTI ID: 890071
• Report Number(s): S-RPT-H-00003Resub
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CONTRACTORS
DOSE EQUIVALENTS
DOSE RATES
DOSEMETERS
EVALUATION
MONITORING
MONITORS
NEUTRONS
PROPORTIONAL COUNTERS
RADIATIONS
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SLOW NEUTRONS