Measurements of effective doses of natural background level of neutrons with etched-track detectors.

Abstract

An etched-track method was applied for a measurement of the effective dose of natural background neutrons. Ten assemblies of polycarbonate film and 10B were placed at the center of a rem-counter type moderator. The assemblies were put in an air-tight container in order to avoid a continuous contribution from radon. Electrochemical etching was adopted. The sensitivity of the detector was 0.21 +/- 0.02 microSv pit(-1) cm2. After a period of storage of 4.3 y, the number of recorded artifact pits in the films corresponded to an effective dose rate of 0.8 +/- 0.2 microSv y(-1). The effective dose rate of natural background neutrons was 18.1 +/- 3.6 microSv year(-1) for the same period, with an artifact dose being subtracted. The total net number of etched-track pits of the present detector was 75 +/- 15 when used for measuring an effective dose of natural background level neutrons for 1 mo, which gives enough counting statistics. The method can thus be applied for monitoring the effective dose of neutrons around nuclear sites and high-energy accelerator facilities.