Comparison of effective doses for personnel performing flaw detection in stationary conditions and <i>in situ</i>

Abstract

Official data on radiation doses for flaw detectors do not take into account working conditions. In the reporting forms, there is no division between personnel performing flaw detection in stationary conditions and in situ, which roughly averages the values of effective doses towards underestimating the values for personnel working in site radiography. In this work, comparison of our own data on radiation doses of flaw detectors was performed. It has been shown that the difference in the mean and median values of effective doses reaches 10 times. When performing flaw detection in stationary conditions, the personnel are at a sufficient distance from the source of ionizing radiation and are well shielded by engineering protective equipment, so the exposure is fairly uniform. In such cases, one individual thermoluminescent dosimeter located at chest level is sufficient to estimate the effective dose. The average annual effective dose for personnel conducting flaw detection in stationary conditions is 0.87 mSv (median – 0.88 mSv, maximum value – 0.99 mSv). During individual radiation monitoring of personnel performing flaw detection in situ using portable roentgen flaw detectors, cases of neglect in the use of individual dosimeters were identified, which requires more stringent measures to comply with existing requirements for ensuring radiation safety and operating rules for individual dosimeters. The average annual effective dose for flaw detectors working with portable roentgen flaw detectors is 9.03 mSv (median – 8.85 mSv, maximum value – 12.37 mSv).