A method for evaluating personal dosemeters in workplace with neutron fields

Abstract

Passive detectors, as albedo or track-etch, still dominate the field of neutron personal dosimetry, mainly due to their low-cost, high-reliability and elevated throughput. However, the recent appearance in the market of electronic personal dosemeters for neutrons presents a new option for personal dosimetry. In addition to passive detectors, electronic personal dosemeters necessitate correction factors, concerning their energy and angular response dependencies. This paper reports on the results of a method to evaluate personal dosemeters for workplace where neutrons are present. The approach here uses few instruments and does not necessitate a large mathematical workload. Qualitative information on the neutron energy spectrum is acquired using a simple spectrometer (Nprobe), reference values for H*(10) are derived from measurements with ambient detectors (Studsvik, Berthold and Harwell) and angular information is measured using personal dosemeters (electronic and bubbles dosemeters) disposed in different orientations on a slab phantom.