Verification of Response of Neutron Monitor for In-Flight Neutron Dosimetry

Federico, Claudio Antonio; Gonçalez, Odair Lélis; Fonseca, Evaldo Simões da; Patrão, Karla Cristina de Souza; Pereira, Marlon Antonio; Caldas, Linda Viola Ehlin

doi:10.5028/jatm.v5i3.222

ABSTRACT:

In this work, we present the results of verification of special neutron monitoring equipment for use in aircrew dosimetry inside aircraft. The equipment was precalibrated with conventional neutron sources in a National Standard Laboratory of the Institute for Radioprotection and Dosimetry (IRD, Brazil) and verified in a Cosmic Energy Reference Field (CERF), a special field from CERN (Centre Européan de Recherche Nucléaire), a facility that reproduces the shape of neutron field encountered in the atmosphere at aircraft altitudes. The equipment consists of a special neutron probe from Thermo Scientific with response up to 5 GeV neutrons and was verified with respect to ambient dose equivalent rate linearity and angular incidence. The results show the adequacy of the equipment for this type of measurement and the feasibility to use conventional neutron sources to calibrate this specific equipment, in the absence of access to the CERF field.

KEYWORDS:
Radiation dose; Aircrew; Neutron dose

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REFERENCES

Bartlett, D.T., 2004, “Radiation protection aspects of the cosmic radiation exposure of aircraft crew”, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 109, No. 4, pp. 349-355.
Edwards, R.E., Normand, E., Dyer, C.S., 2004, “Technical Standards for atmospheric radiation single event effects (SEE) on avionics electronics”, IEEE Radiation effects Data Workshop Record, IEEE 04TH8774, 2004.
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Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
Jul-Sep 2013

History

Received
17 Dec 2012
Accepted
22 May 2013

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

[1] Bartlett, D.T., 2004, “Radiation protection aspects of the cosmic radiation exposure of aircraft crew”, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 109, No. 4, pp. 349-355.

[2] Edwards, R.E., Normand, E., Dyer, C.S., 2004, “Technical Standards for atmospheric radiation single event effects (SEE) on avionics electronics”, IEEE Radiation effects Data Workshop Record, IEEE 04TH8774, 2004.

[3] FAA, 1990, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, Radiation Exposure of Air Carrier Crewmembers. FAA Advisory Circular n. 120-152.

[4] Federico, C.A., Gonçalez, O.L., Fonseca, E.S., Martin, I.M. and Caldas, L.V.E, 2010a, “Neutron Spectra Measurements in the South Atlantic Anomaly Region”, Radiation Measurements, Vol. 45, No. 10, pp.1526-1528.

[5] Federico, C.A., Pereira, H.H.C., Pereira, M.A., Gonçalez, O.L. and Caldas, L.V.E., 2010 b, “Estimates of Cosmic Radiation Dose Received By Aircrew of DCTA’s Flight Test Special Group”, Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management, Vol. 2, pp. 137-144.

[6] Federico, C.A., Gonçalez, O.L., Sordi, G.M.A.A. and Caldas, L.V.E., 2012, “Effects of Cosmic Radiation in Aircrafts: A Discussion about Aircrew over South America”, Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management, São José dos Campos, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 219-225, Apr-Jun.

[7] Hajek, M., Berger, T. and Vana, N., 2004, “A TLD-based personal dosemeter system for aircrew monitoring”, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 110, No. 1-4, pp. 337-341.

[8] IAEA, 2000, Calibration of Radiation Protection Monitoring Instruments, Safety Report Series 16, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.

[9] ICRP, 1991, International Commission on Radiological Protection. Recommendations of the international commission on radiological protection, Publication 60, Annals of the ICRP, Vol. 21, No. 1-3.

[10] ICRP, 1997, International Commission on Radiological Protection. Conversion coefficients for use in radiological protection against external radiation, Publication 74, Annals of the ICRP, Vol. 26, No. 3.

[11] ICRP, 1998, International Commission on Radiological Protection. General principles for the radiation protection of workers, Publication 75, Annals of the ICRP, Vol. 27, No. 1.

[12] Mayer, S., Forkel-Wirth, D., Fuerstner, M., Menzel, H.G., Mueller, M.J., Perrin, D., Theis, C. and Vincke, H., 2007, “Response of neutron detectors to high-energy mixed radiation fields”, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 125, No. 1-4, pp. 289-292.

[13] Mitaroff, A. and Silari, M., 2002, “The CERN-EU High-Energy Reference Field (CERF) Facility for Dosimetry at Commercial Flight Altitudes and in Space”, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 102, No. 1, pp. 7-22.

[14] Roberts, N.J., Jones, L.N., Králik, M., Park, H., Choi, K.O., Pereira, W.W., da Fonseca, E.S., Cassette, P., Dewey, M.S., Moiseev, N.N. and Kharitonov, I.A., 2011, “International Key Comparison of Measurements of Neutron Source Emission Rate (1999-2005): CCRI(III)-K9.AmBe”, Metrologia, 48, Tech. Suppl., 06018.

[15] Sato, T. and Niita, K., 2006, “Analytical Functions to Predict Cosmic-Ray Neutron Spectra in the Atmosphere”, Radiation Research, Vol. 166, pp. 544-555.

[16] Schuhmacher, H., 2004, “Neutron Calibration Facilities”, Radiation Protection Dosimetry , Vol. 110, No. 1-4, pp. 33-42.

[17] Thermo-Scientific,2009, FHT 762-WENDI-2 Datasheet. (n.42540/85 TD-E).

[18] Wilson, J.W., Goldhagen, P., Maiden, D.L. and Tai, H., 1998, “High altitude radiations relevant to the high speed civil transport (HSCT)”. NASA Technical Documentation, NASA.

[19] Yasuda, H. and Yajima, K., 2010, “Characterization of Radiation Instruments at the Summit of Mt. Fuji”, Radiation Measurements , Vol. 45, pp. 1600-1604.

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