Fluence-to-Dose Conversion Coefficients for Muons and Pions Calculated Based on ICRP Publication 103 Using the PHITS Code

Abstract

2 The fluence to effective-dose and organ-absorbed-dose conversion coefficients for charged pions and muons were calculated based on the instructions given in ICRP Publication 103. For the calculation, the particle motions in the ICRP/ICRU adult reference computational phantoms were simulated using the PHITS code for four idealized irradia- tion geometries as well as those closely representing the geometrical situations of cosmic-ray muon exposure. Cosmic-ray pion and muon dose rates over a wide altitude range were estimated using the calculated dose conversion coefficients. The results of the calculation indicate that the assumption of the isotropic irradiation geometry is suitable to be utilized in the dose estimations for cosmic-ray pions and muons. It is also found from the calculation that the in- troduction of ICRP103 gives little impact on the pion and muon dosimetries, since the radiation weighting factors assigned to those particles are maintained in the issue.