Dose Rate Map Research Articles

Shutdown dose rate calculations in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors using the MCNP-ORIGEN activation automation tool

Background High-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) have many distinct features from the current light water reactor (LWR) fleet, and potential decommissioning strategies should take them into consideration. The proper characterization of the shutdown dose rates can establish a suitable strategy. Methods This article introduces a new shutdown dose rate calculation capability that relies on the MCNP-ORIGEN activation automation tool and the MCNP repeated structures to explicitly model the TRistructural ISOtropic (TRISO) particles as decay radiation sources. Results Three exercises are conducted with this capability, and their results discussed. The first two exercises verify and demonstrate the workflow. The third exercise proposes a decommissioning strategy for a high-temperature gas-cooled microreactor and studies its feasibility from the shutdown dose rate standpoint. The calculations yield a dose rate map above at the reactor citadel after a three month cool-down, showing values above 40 mSv/h. Conclusions The findings imply that the decommissioning strategy based on placing the reactor in a safe shutdown state and allowing it to cool down for three months before removing various components and extracting the fuel assemblies, may not be sufficient to minimize unnecessary exposure of personnel.

Quantitative, real-time scintillation imaging for experimental comparison of different dose and dose rate estimations in UHDR proton pencil beams.

Ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy (UHDR-RT) has demonstrated normal tissue sparing capabilities, termed the FLASH effect; however, available dosimetry tools make it challenging to characterize the UHDR beams with sufficiently high concurrent spatial and temporal resolution. Novel dosimeters are needed for safe clinical implementation and improved understanding of the effect ofUHDR-RT. Ultra-fast scintillation imaging has been shown to provide a unique tool for spatio-temporal dosimetry of conventional cyclotron pencil beam scanning (PBS) deliveries, indicating the potential use for characterization of UHDR PBS proton beams. The goal of this work is to introduce this novel concept and demonstrate its capabilities in recording high-resolution dose rate maps at FLASH-capable proton beam currents, as compared to log-based dose rate calculation, internally developed UHDR beam simulation, and a fast point detector (EDGE diode). The light response of a scintillator sheet located at isocenter and irradiated by PBS proton fields (40-210 nA, 250 MeV) was imaged by an ultra-fast iCMOS camera at 4.5-12 kHz sampling frequency. Camera sensor and image intensifier gain were optimized to maximize the dynamic range; the camera acquisition rate was also varied to evaluate the optimal sampling frequency. Large field delivery enabled flat field acquisition for evaluation of system response homogeneity. Image intensity was calibrated to dose with film and the recorded spatio-temporal data was compared to a PPC05 ion chamber, log-based reconstruction, and EDGE diode. Dose and dose rate linearity studies were performed to evaluate agreement under various beam conditions. Calculation of full-field mean and PBS dose rate maps were calculated to highlight the importance of high resolution, full-field information in UHDRstudies. Camera response was linear with dose (R2 = 0.997) and current (R22 = 0.98) in the range from 2-22 Gy and 40-210 nA, respectively, when compared to ion chamber readings. The deviation of total irradiation time calculated with the imaging system from the log file recordings decreased from 0.07% to 0.03% when imaging at 12 kfps versus 4.5 kfps. Planned and delivered spot positions agreed within 0.2 0.1 mm and total irradiation time agreed within 0.2 0.2 ms when compared with the log files, indicating the high concurrent spatial and temporal resolution. For all deliveries, the PBS dose rate measured at the diode location agreed between the imaging and the diode within 3% 2% and with the simulation within 5% 3% CONCLUSIONS: Full-field mapping of dose and dose rate is imperative for complete understanding of UHDR PBS proton dose delivery. The high linearity and various spatiotemporal metric reporting capabilities confirm the continued use of this camera system for UHDR beam characterization, especially for spatially resolved dose rateinformation.

Statistical evaluation of individual external exposure dose of outdoor worker and ambient dose rate at evacuation ordered zones after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident

Following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, evacuation orders were issued for the surrounding communities. In order to lift the evacuation order, it is necessary to determine individual external doses in the evacuated areas. The purpose of this study was to determine the quantitative relationship between individual external doses and ambient dose rates per hour as conversion coefficients. More specifically, individual external doses of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings employees in difficult-to-return zone were measured broadly over a long period (fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2022). To obtain highly accurate estimates, we used not only ambient dose rates based on airborne radiological monitoring data, but also Integrated dose rate map data that had been statistically corrected to correspond to local ambient dose rate gradients on the ground. As a result, the conversion coefficients based on the ambient dose rate map measured by airborne radiological monitoring were 0.42 for the Evacuation-Order Lifted Zones (ELZs), 0.37 for the Special Zones for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (SZRRs), and 0.47 for the Difficult-to-Return Zones without SZRRs (DRZs). On the other hand, the conversion coefficients based on the Integrated dose rate map which is a highly accurate dose rate map based on statistical analysis of various types of monitoring that have been studied in government projects in recent years, were 0.78 for the ELZs, 0.72 for the SZRRs and 0.82 for the DRZs. Using these conversion coefficients, the individual external dose can be estimated from two representative ambient dose rate maps provided by the government.

Comparative Study of Radiation Mapping Technologies for Nuclear Disaster Assessment

The distribution of the ambient dose equivalent rate (i.e., air dose rate) after a nuclear disaster is crucial for zoning contaminated areas to facilitate authorities’ effective decision making. Several countries are considering a gradual characterization strategy where airborne measurement is performed first followed by ground measurement (i.e., via manborne or carborne surveys). Nonetheless, potential differences might emerge in country-specific air dose rate assessment methods. Explaining these discrepancies can improve and converge existing methodologies. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), which are organizations involved in post-nuclear accident crisis management, jointly performed air dose rate measurements in 2019 at contaminated sites around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The similarities and differences between the two organizations’ methods and results were quantitatively assessed by comparing the average air dose rates obtained within a grid created with a geographic information system, and the reasons for the differences between the organizations’ results were investigated. The air dose rates obtained by the manborne measurements varied depending on the calibration method. Comparing the air dose rate assessment methods and mapping techniques used in different countries will contribute to developing international guidelines for recommending the best method for determining air dose rates.

Shutdown dose rate calculations in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors using the MCNP-ORIGEN activation automation tool

Background High-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) have many distinct features from the current light water reactor (LWR) fleet, and potential decommissioning strategies should take them into consideration. The proper characterization of the shutdown dose rates can establish a suitable strategy. Methods This article introduces a new shutdown dose rate calculation capability that relies on the MCNP-ORIGEN activation automation tool and the MCNP repeated structures to explicitly model the TRistructural ISOtropic (TRISO) particles as decay radiation sources. Results Three exercises are conducted with this capability, and their results discussed. The first two exercises verify and demonstrate the workflow. The third exercise proposes a decommissioning strategy for a high-temperature gas-cooled microreactor and studies its feasibility from the shutdown dose rate standpoint. The calculations yield a dose rate map above at the reactor citadel after a three month cool-down, showing values above 40 mSv/h. Conclusions The findings imply that the decommissioning strategy based on placing the reactor in a safe shutdown state and allowing it to cool down for three months before removing various components and extracting the fuel assemblies, may not be sufficient to minimize unnecessary exposure of personnel.

A Novel Planning and Delivery Technology: Dose, Dose Rate and Linear Energy Transfer (LET) Optimization Based on Spot-Scanning Proton Arc Therapy FLASH (SPLASHLET)

To achieve a high conformal dose with Linear Energy Transfer (LET) optimized FLASH proton therapy, we introduced a new planning and delivery technique concept, the voxel-wised optimization of LET distribution and dose rate based on scanning arc therapy (SPLASHLET) MATERIALS/METHODS: The algorithm optimizes (1) the clinical dose-volume constraint based on dose distribution and (2) the clinical LET-volume constraint based on LET distribution using Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) with Limited-memory BFGS solver by minimizing the monitor unit (MU) constraint on spot weight and (3) the effective dose-average dose rate by minimizing the accelerator's beam current sequentially. Such optimization framework enables the high dose conformal dynamic arc therapy with the capability of LET painting with voxel-based FLASH dose rate in an open-source proton planning platform (MatRad, Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center-DKFZ). It aiming to minimize the overall cost function value combined with plan quality and voxel-based LET and dose rate constraints. Three representative cases (brain, liver and prostate cancer) were used for testing purposes. Dose-volume histogram (DVH), LET volume histogram (LVH) dose rate volume histogram (DRVH) and dose rate map were assessed compared to the original SPArc plan (SPArcoriginal). SPLASHLET plan could offer comparable plan quality compared to SPArcoriginal plan. The DRVH results indicated that SPArcoriginal could not achieve FLASH using the clinic beam current configuration, while SPLASHLET could significantly not only improve V40Gy/s in target and region of interest (ROI) but also improve the mean LET in the target and reduce the high LET in organ at risk (OAR) in comparison with SPArcoriginal (Table 1). SPLASHLET offers the first LET painting with voxel-based ultra-dose-rate and high-dose conformity treatment using proton beam therapy. Such technique has the potential to take full vantage of LET painting, FLASH and SPArc.

Dynamic prediction of spatial dose rate distribution during nuclear severe accidents by means of active machine learning and mobile sensors

The prediction of atmospheric dispersion of nuclear material is crucial to support emergency response during nuclear accidents, due to the potential severity and far-reaching consequences of such accidents. This importance is particularly evident in the context of severe accidents, like the incident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). NPP are commonly supported by atmospheric dispersion systems (ADS), which estimate the spatial dose rates distribution, referred to as the dose rate map (DRM), by means of physical model simulations, including source term (ST), wind fields, atmospheric transport and diffusion, and dose calculations. However, it is well-known that a real accident scenario may differ from those modeled especially under severe conditions, and this fact may lead to erroneous predictions resulting in poor or catastrophic decision making. Aiming to minimize this problem, several efforts have been made to improve predictions based on field measurements, such as inverse problems and other methods to correct/adjust ST parameters. Such methods, however, complement the physical model calculations. This paper proposes a novel approach to predict DRM at ground level, based only upon field measurements (avoiding execution of physical model simulations). The idea is to dynamically adapt a set of mobile sensors (for example monitoring drones swarm) to follow the radioactive plume. To achieve this, an active machine learning (AML) approach was developed based on Gaussian process regression (GRP) and swarm intelligence. To test the approach, computational experiments using realistic simulated data (generated on the ADS simulator of a Brazilian NPP) has been used. As result, DRMs have been reproduced with good qualitative (visual) representation and satisfactory quantitative metrics. The average correlation coefficient between predicted and real DRMs was approximately 0.72 (ranging from 0.64 to 0.97 during plume evolution), demonstrating to be a promising approach to predict DRMs.

A Novel Ultrahigh-Dose-Rate Proton Therapy Technology: Spot-Scanning Proton Arc Therapy + FLASH (SPLASH)

To take full advantage of FLASH dose rate (40 Gy/s) and high-dose conformity, we introduce a novel optimization and delivery technique, the spot-scanning proton arc therapy (SPArc)+FLASH (SPLASH). SPLASH framework was implemented in an open-source proton planning platform (MatRad, Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center). It optimizes with the clinical dose-volume constraint based on dose distribution and the dose-average dose rate by minimizing the monitor unit constraint on spot weight and accelerator beam current sequentially, enabling the first dynamic arc therapy with voxel-based FLASH dose rate. This new optimization framework minimizes the overall cost function value combined with plan quality and voxel-based dose-rate constraints. Three representative cases (brain, liver, and prostate cancer) were used for testing purposes. Dose-volume histogram, dose-rate-volume histogram, and dose-rate map were compared among intensity modulated proton radiation therapy (IMPT), SPArc, and SPLASH. SPLASH/SPArc could offer superior plan quality over IMPT in terms of dose conformity. The dose-rate-volume histogram results indicated SPLASH could significantly improve V40 Gy/s in the target and region of interest for all tested cases compared with SPArc and IMPT. The optimal beam current per spot is simultaneously generated, which is within the existing proton machine specifications in the research version (<200 nA). SPLASH offers the first voxel-based ultradose-rate and high-dose conformity treatment using proton beam therapy. Such a technique has the potential to fit the needs of a broad range of disease sites and simplify clinical workflow without applying a patient-specific ridge filter, which has never before been demonstrated.

Determining sampling spacing according to volume of investigation in geophysical surveys, application of air dose rate mapping

SUMMARY Geophysical measurements are a sort of averaging a physical property over a volume of investigation (VOI). Within the VOI, the spatial elements closer to the detector contribute more to the measured value compared to farther elements. In this study, a VOI-oriented algorithm is proposed which establishes a relation between the localization probability, the sampling spacing and the size of the exploration target. Hence, the probability of localizing a target could be calculated as a function of sampling spacing when the target dimension is known. The novelty of this work is the use of VOI in the sampling optimization, which is important for geophysical survey design in environmental sampling and mineral exploration. Although the published sampling optimization methods are often variogram-oriented, the one presented here is based on the spatial variability of the measured property. Finally, coupling the VOI-oriented algorithm with a variogram model could be recommended in order to consider both the measurement mechanism and the spatial variability in the sampling design.

The Gamma and Neutron Sensor System for Rapid Dose Rate Mapping in the CLEANDEM Project.

The decommissioning of nuclear installations, as well as the possible necessary accident remediations, requires the physical presence of human operators in potentially radiologically hostile environments. The number of active nuclear reactors worldwide is greater than 400, and most of them are 40 to 50 years old, thus implying that soon they will have to be dismantled. In the framework of the H2020 CLEANDEM project, a small robotic vehicle is being developed that is equipped with a series of different sensors for areas that are significantly contaminated by radiation. In this work, we describe the MiniRadMeter system, a compact low-cost sensor capable of being used to perform quick gamma and neutron radiation field mapping of environments prior to the possible start of human operations. The miniature gamma sensor is a 1 cm3 scintillator counter with moderate spectroscopic features read out by means of a 6 × 6 mm2 SiPM, whereas neutrons are detected by means of a silicon diode coupled to a layer of 6LiF and placed inside a 6 × 6 × 6 cm3 polyethylene box. The front-end and data acquisition electronics were developed based on a Raspberry Pi4 microcomputer. In this paper, the system performance and the preliminary test results are described.

Impact evaluation of typhoons and remediation works on spatiotemporal evolution of air dose rate in two riverside parks in Fukushima, Japan after the Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident

This study elucidated the impacts of typhoon events and remediation works on the spatiotemporal evolution of the air dose rate in riverside areas frequented by residents. Spatial distribution of the air dose rate and radiocesium concentration in the sediments were measured in two riverside parks located near each other in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, for 2015–2020. The air dose rates measured by walk surveys were interpolated using ordinary kriging to generate air dose rate maps, to facilitate a comparison between the results at different points in time during the measurement campaigns. After the typhoons that occurred during 2015–2018, the air dose rate near the riverside in one park decreased, but not in the other, because the erosion and sediment deposition patterns differed between them. This could be due to the presence of a dam upstream, which serves a flood mitigation function. However, the extreme event of typhoon Hagibis in 2019 dropped the air dose rates near the riversides in both parks. In contrast to the typhoon events which affected the riverside areas, remediation works such as decontamination undertaken during 2015–2019 reduced the air dose rates around the garden and lawn areas which are frequently used as recreational sites. Modeling the temporal evolutions in the air dose rates for the entire area of the riverside parks revealed that 35% of the reduction was caused by physical decay of radiocesium on average, 14% by vertical migration of radiocesium in the soil through precipitation, and 51% by the three typhoons and remediation works during 2015–2019. The contribution of 20% from the strongest typhoon Hagibis highlights the fact that floods resulting from large typhoons are effective in causing natural attenuation of air dose rates in riverside parks.

Neutron shielding assessment of a 16O hadron therapy room by means of Monte Carlo simulations with the PHITS code

Hadron radiation therapy is of great interest worldwide. Heavy-ion beams provide ideal therapeutic conditions for deep-seated local tumours. At the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center (HIT, Germany), protons and carbon ions are already integrated into the clinical routine, while 16O ions are still used for research only. To ensure the protection of the technical staff and members of the public, it is required to estimate the neutron dose distribution for optimal working conditions and at different locations. The Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Code System (PHITS) is used in this work to evaluate the dose rate distribution of secondary neutrons in a treatment room at HIT where 16O ions are used: an equivalent target in soft tissue is considered in the shielding assessment to simulate the interaction of the beam with patients. The angular dependence of neutron fluences and energy spectra around the considered phantom were calculated. Alongside the spatial distribution of the neutron and photon fluence, a map of the effective dose rate was estimated using the ICRP fluence-to-effective dose conversion coefficients, exploiting the PHITS code’s built-in capabilities. The capability of the actual shielding design of the studied HIT treatment room was approved.

Time-resolved dose rate measurements in pencil beam scanning proton FLASH therapy with a fiber-coupled scintillator detector system.

The spatial and temporal dose rate distribution of pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy is important in ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) or FLASH irradiations. Validation of the temporal structure of the dose rate is crucial for quality assurance and may be performed using detectors with high temporal resolution and large dynamic range. To provide time-resolved in vivo dose rate measurements using a scintillator-based detector during proton PBS pre-clinical mouse experiments with dose rates ranging from conventional to UHDR. All irradiations were performed at the entrance plateau of a 250MeV PBS proton beam. A detector system with four fiber-coupled ZnSe:O inorganic scintillators and 20μs temporal resolution was used for dose rate measurements. The system was first characterized in terms of precision and stem signal. The detector precision was determined through repeated irradiations with the same field. The stem signal contribution was quantified by irradiating two of the detector probes alongside a bare fiber (fiber without a coupled scintillator). Next, the detector system was calibrated against an ionization chamber (IC) with all four detector probes and the IC placed in a water bath at 2cmdepth. A scan pattern covering 9.6×9.6cmwas used. Multiple irradiations with different requested nozzle currents provided instantaneous dose rates at the detector positions in the range of 7-1270Gy/s.The correspondence of the detector signal (in Volts) to the instantaneous dose rate (in Gy/s) was found. The instantaneous dose rate was calculated from the beam current and the spot-to-detector distance assuming a Gaussian beam profile at distances up to 8mmfrom the spot. Afterwards, the calibrated system was used in vivo, in mouse experiments, where mouse legs were irradiated with a constant dose and varying field dose rates of 0.7-87.5Gy/s.Theinstantaneous dose rate was measured for each delivered spot and the delivered dose was determined as the integrated instantaneous dose rate. The spot dose profile and PBS dose rate map were calculated. The dose contamination to neighbouring mice were measured together with the upper limit of the dose to the mouse body. The detectors showed high precision with ≤0.4% fluctuations in the measured dose. The stem signal exceeded 10% for spots <5mmfromthe optical fiber and >18mmfromthe scintillator. It contributed up to 0.2% to the total dose, which was considered negligible. All four detectors showed a non-linear relation between signal and instantaneous dose rate, which was modelled with a polynomial response function. In the mouse experiments, the measured scintillator dose showed 1.8% fluctuations, independent of the field dose rate. The in vivo measured spot dose profile had tails that deviated from a Gaussian profile with measurable dose contributions from spots up to 85mm from the detector. Neighbour mouse irradiation contributed ∼1% of the total mouse dose. The upper limit of the mouse body dose was 6% of the mouse leg dose. A fiber-coupled inorganic scintillator-based detector system can provide high precision in vivo measurements of the instantaneous dose rate if correction for the non-linear dose rate dependency is applied.

Status of Scoping Nuclear Analyses for the Evolving Design of ITER TBM Port Cells

ITER is an international collaborative effort towards the realization of fusion energy via the magnetic confinement concept. Two of the equatorial ports in the facility are dedicated to the testing of tritium breeding concepts, which is essential for the tritium self-sufficiency of future fusion reactors. The concerned Test Blanket System (TBS) consists of a Test Blanket Module (TBM) residing inside the TBM–Port Plug (TBM-PP) and its associated ancillary systems in the Tokamak facility. In this paper, the results of a full suite of nuclear analyses concerning the shielding performance of the Pipe Forest (PF) and Bioshield Plug (BP), to reflect on the evolution of their designs, are discussed. On the BP side, the design of the peripheral part has been reviewed considering the ventilation openings and butterfly doors, to assure the design compliance with the Radiation Map (RadMap) requirements for the neutron flux in the Port Cell (PC), behind the BP. On the PF side, the pipes routing and maintenance corridor door have been redesigned, by taking into account results from previously concluded nuclear analyses. The neutronics model was developed from CAD and was used to perform transport simulations in two plasma modes: on and off. For plasma-on mode, the plasma neutron field in the Port Interspace (PI) as well as behind the BP was assessed and few shielding options were explored. The responses due to decay neutrons from 17N in activated cooling water were also considered. For the plasma-off mode, the focus was shifted to further refine the ShutDown Dose Rate (SDDR) maps, which is of importance for maintenance operations that are foreseen to take place at various stages of ITER operation, in particular following the FPO-1, FPO-2, and Short operation scenarios. In addition, detailed activation analyses were carried out to provide a provisional waste classification.

Authors reply to comment by Michio Aoyama on "Development of a gamma ray dose rate calculation and mapping tool for Lagrangian marine nuclear emergency response models" by Little et al.

Authors reply to comment by Michio Aoyama on "Development of a gamma ray dose rate calculation and mapping tool for Lagrangian marine nuclear emergency response models" by Little et al.

A Novel Ultra-High Dose Rate Proton Therapy Technology: Spot-Scanning Proton Arc Therapy FLASH (SPLASH)

<h3>Purpose/Objective(s)</h3> The flash dose rate on the order of 40 Gy/s has the potential to spare normal tissue with iso-effective tumor growth delay. Meanwhile, the spot-scanning proton arc therapy (SPArc), demonstrated its superior dosimetric conformity and plan robustness compared to the conventional intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT). To take the full advantage of flash dose rate and the high dose conformity, we introduce a novel optimization and delivery technique, SPArc FLASH (SPLASH). <h3>Materials/Methods</h3> SPLASH framework was implemented in an open-source proton planning platform (matRad). It optimizes the spot monitor unit (MU) weighting and cyclotron beam current per spot simultaneously. More specifically, it simultaneously optimized with the clinical dose-volume constraint based on dose distribution and optimized the dose-average dose rate by minimizing the monitor unit constraint on spot weight and maximum cyclotron beam current to minimize the cost function value combined by dose and dose rate. An intracranial target (volume = 20.8cc) case was used for testing purpose. Prescription is 50 Gy in 25 fractions. Dose-volume histogram, dose averaged dose rate histogram and dose rate map per spot were compared between SPArc and SPLASH. <h3>Results</h3> The dose-averaged dose rate histogram indicated that flash dose rate (40Gy/s) could not be achieved using the original SPArc with the current clinical beam current configuration. With a same plan quality, SPLASH improved dose-averaged dose rate of V<i>r</i> > 40 Gy/s (Volume of dose rate larger than 40Gy/s) in PTV, optic chiasm, optic nerve and brainstem from 0%, 0%, 0%, 0% in SPArc plan to 100%, 100%, 100%, 75%, respectively. The optimal cyclotron beam current per spot is simultaneously generated. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The SPLASH offers simultaneously optimizing dose distribution and dose rate. It could generate a treatment plan with a superior conformal dose distribution and ultra-high dose rate, which has never been demonstrated before.

Computational personal dosimetry at a realistic neutron workplace field

Some drawbacks of monitoring radiation worker doses with personal dosimeters could be avoided by the introduction of computational dosimetry based on 3D cameras for tracking of workers, modelling the workplace and its radiation field, and dose calculation using computer simulations. The PODIUM (Personal Online DosImetry Using computational Methods) project was setup to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of the computational dosimetry approach developed within the PODIUM project at a realistic neutron workplace field. A transport container with spent MOX fuel needles in a controlled area at SCK CEN was selected as a realistic neutron workplace field for this feasibility study. An MCNP6.2 model of this workplace was developed and successfully validated by comparing simulations with extensive measurements. After validation, the model was used to calculate an effective dose rate map of the workplace field. A single 3D camera was setup at the workplace to track the workers. Using a Python tool, the effective dose rate map, and the tracking file from the camera, the effective dose of the tracked worker could then easily be calculated.

Comment on “Development of a gamma ray dose rate calculation and mapping tool for Lagrangian marine nuclear emergency response models” by Little et al.

Care must be taken when calculating the sum of released amounts to the environment for different radionuclides of whose physical and chemical characteristics are quite different and the radiological impact of the radionuclides are also quite different. In this comment, the mishandling of summation in “Development of a gamma ray dose rate calculation and mapping tool for Lagrangian marine nuclear emergency response models by Little et al.” is pointed out and the correct way is suggested.

External effective dose from natural radiation for the Umbria region (Italy)

ABSTRACT This study presents the map of the external effective annual dose rate (1:200,000 scale) due to terrestrial and cosmic radiation. The terrestrial dose is assessed via gamma ray spectroscopy combining radiometric data from airborne surveys and laboratory measurements. The geostatistical method Collocated CoKriging is used for the spatial interpolation of the sparse gamma ray data, adopting a high-resolution geological map as ancillary information. The obtained numerical map is integrated with the cosmic radiation effective dose rate calculated using the CARI-7 software tool that considers the effects of altitude, latitude, and the solar magnetic activity cycle. The absorbed dose rate due to radioactivity of the main lithological groups is studied and, for the most populated municipalities, the population-weighted average effective dose is also calculated. For future generations, this map will be a reference tool for evaluating radiological effects in case of accidental events like radioactive fallout or environmental contaminations.

Dose rate mapping of an industrial 60Co irradiator using an online photodiode-based dosimetry system

In this work, a housemade dosimetry system based on a thin photodiode is applied for online mapping of dose rates, between 2.6 and 37.7 Gy/h, delivered by a Panoramic 60Co industrial facility. The operational principle of the dosimeter relies on the real-time acquisition of the induced currents from the irradiated diode operating in the short-circuit mode without externally applied voltage. The radial mapping of the radiation field is performed by rotating the diode around the central axis of the panoramic irradiator, covering 360° at intervals of 18°. The results are benchmarked with alanine dosimeters, Monte Carlo simulations, and reference dose rates retrieved from the facility calibration. The overall consistency of the whole data complies with the maximum response variation (8%, k = 2) recommended by the International Standard Protocols for routine dosimeters in radiation processing dosimetry. It reveals that the photodiode-dosimetry system is a reliable alternative to map dose rate fields and the effectiveness of Monte Carlo simulations as a predictive tool for dose rate measurements in an irradiator.