engleski

Solid state dosimeters in environmental monitoring

The international community is facing the task of the monitoring of environmental radiation because of its potential increases due to human activities. Monitoring networks have been established to provide a record of natural background radiation as well as to measure any radiation releases from facilities. Thermoluminescence and radiophotoluminescence solid state dosimeters are important elements of such networks and are widely used passive detectors for environmental monitoring. Environmental dosimetry systems have to fulfil the requirement to measure the man-made contribution to environmental radiation (1:10). The monitoring has to be carried out under variable environmental conditions (UV sunlight, humidity, temperature). Performance testing and procedural specifications may be found in national and international standards. Various high sensitivity dosimeter systems based on LiF:Mg, Cu, P, CaF2:Mn and Al2O3:C along with TLD-700 were investigated in laboratory and field tests. The following dosimetric characteristics of the recently developed SC-1 flat RPL glass dosimeters with FGD-202 reader for environmental dosimetry were also investigated: uniformity/batch homogeneity, reproducibility, linearity, detection threshold, energy dependence in air, on phantom and in water as well as the light sensitivity. All characteristics of RPL dosimeters investigated fulfil the requirements of the new IEC 61066:2006 Standard for personal and environmental dosimetry. The author proposes to extend the IEC Standard for personal and environmental monitoring also to RPL (and other) passive solid state dosimeters. To reach international standards and to improve the environmental dosimetry method there is a need for intercomparisons. Several large-scale international intercomparisons were organised for passive environmental dosimeter systems. Recently, a new intercomparison of environmental dosimeters is being organised for a few participants. The protocol and the aim of the intercomparison will be discussed.

TLD; RPL; environmental monitoring; intercomparison

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