In cooperation with the Iranian Nuclear Society

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Radiation Applications Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, AEOI, P.O.Box:11365-3486, Tehran-Iran

Abstract

It is shown recently that the thermal neutron field of Isfahan MNSR with stable flux and dose equivalent rate can be used as a calibration field in dosimetry. The fundamental limit of this field is not the feasibility of using phantom for the irradiation of personal dosimeters. This issue leads to underestimating the personal dose-equivalents from the true values. The subject of this work is to correct the calibration curve of TLD-600 dosimeters irradiated without phantom. To do this, Monte Carlo simulations using Geant4 are carried out and absorbed doses in this dosimeter for irradiation with and without phantom are calculated. Then, the ratio of these doses as a correction factor applies to the responses measured without phantom, and then the corrected calibration curve is determined. As an analytical approach, the correction factor is considered as the ratio of the mean number of thermal neutron reflections between air and water (with phantom) and in the air alone (without phantom). Results obtained show that the correction factors determined by the simulation and analytical methods are 1.57 and 1.44, respectively, which agree well with the 8% difference. Finally, the response correction has led to changing the calibration factor of TLD-600 dosimeters from 0.0012 to 0.0008.

Highlights

1. G.F. Knoll, Radiation Detection and Measurement, Fourth Edition (John Wiley & Sons, USA 2010).
 
2. H.H. Rossi, M. Zaider, Microdosimetry and its applications, (Springer, Germany, 1996).
 
3. Sh. Badiei, et al, Development and validation of a Geant4 application to calculate the response matrix of a set of superheated drop detectors under various external pressure, Nucl. Sci. Instrum. A, 939, 55-60 (2019).
 
4. F.Y. Hsu, Dose estimation of the neutrons induced by high energy medical linac accelerator using dual TLD chip, Rad. Meas., 45, 739-741 (2010).
 
5. F. Spurny, K. Turek, Neutron dosimetry with solid state nuclear track detectors, Nucl. Track. Det., 1, 189-197 (1977).
 
6. ICRU report 26, Neutron dosimetry for biology and medicine, (ICRU, 1978).
 
7. R.V. Griffith, J. Palfalvi, U. Madhvanath, Compendium of neutron spectra and detector response for radiation protection purposes, (1990).
 
8. S. Baradaran, M. Taheri, A. Moslehi, Comparison and correction of thermoluminescent responses in different neutron fields, Iranian. J. Med. Phys., 18, 84-88 (2021).

 

9. M.H.C. Dastjerdi, et al, A neutron radiography beamline relying on the Isfahan Miniature Neutron Source Reactor, Nucl. Instrument. Meth. A, 928, 20-25 (2019).
 
10. A. Moslehi, et al, Feasibility study of Isfahan MNSR as a calibration thermal neutron source, Nucl. Instrument. Meth. A, 1024, 166026 (2022).
 
11. S. Agostinelli, et al, Geant4-a simulation toolkit, Nucl. Instrument. Meth. A, 506, 250-303 (2003).
 
12. ISO 4037-3, Calibration of area and personal dosimeters and the measurement of their response as a function of energy and angle of incidence, (ISO, 1999).
 
13. V.F. Kozlov, A photographic method for personal dosimetry, (1963).
 
14. S. Azimkhani, F. Zolfagharpour, F. Ziaie, Calculation of thermal neutron albedo for mono-material and bi-material reflectors, Nucl. Sci. Tech., 29, 130 (2018).

Keywords

1. G.F. Knoll, Radiation Detection and Measurement, Fourth Edition (John Wiley & Sons, USA 2010).
 
2. H.H. Rossi, M. Zaider, Microdosimetry and its applications, (Springer, Germany, 1996).
 
3. Sh. Badiei, et al, Development and validation of a Geant4 application to calculate the response matrix of a set of superheated drop detectors under various external pressure, Nucl. Sci. Instrum. A, 939, 55-60 (2019).
 
4. F.Y. Hsu, Dose estimation of the neutrons induced by high energy medical linac accelerator using dual TLD chip, Rad. Meas., 45, 739-741 (2010).
 
5. F. Spurny, K. Turek, Neutron dosimetry with solid state nuclear track detectors, Nucl. Track. Det., 1, 189-197 (1977).
 
6. ICRU report 26, Neutron dosimetry for biology and medicine, (ICRU, 1978).
 
7. R.V. Griffith, J. Palfalvi, U. Madhvanath, Compendium of neutron spectra and detector response for radiation protection purposes, (1990).
 
8. S. Baradaran, M. Taheri, A. Moslehi, Comparison and correction of thermoluminescent responses in different neutron fields, Iranian. J. Med. Phys., 18, 84-88 (2021).
 
9. M.H.C. Dastjerdi, et al, A neutron radiography beamline relying on the Isfahan Miniature Neutron Source Reactor, Nucl. Instrument. Meth. A, 928, 20-25 (2019).
 
10. A. Moslehi, et al, Feasibility study of Isfahan MNSR as a calibration thermal neutron source, Nucl. Instrument. Meth. A, 1024, 166026 (2022).
 
11. S. Agostinelli, et al, Geant4-a simulation toolkit, Nucl. Instrument. Meth. A, 506, 250-303 (2003).
 
12. ISO 4037-3, Calibration of area and personal dosimeters and the measurement of their response as a function of energy and angle of incidence, (ISO, 1999).
 
13. V.F. Kozlov, A photographic method for personal dosimetry, (1963).
 
14. S. Azimkhani, F. Zolfagharpour, F. Ziaie, Calculation of thermal neutron albedo for mono-material and bi-material reflectors, Nucl. Sci. Tech., 29, 130 (2018).