The influence of phantom shape on personnel dosemeters response in the light of the new ICRU quantities

The calibration of personnel dosemeters in the new quantities which are defined in ICRU 39 should be done on the ICRU sphere at 10 mm depth. The practical situations often require the use of phantoms which are of different composition or of different shapes in comparison to the ICRU sphere. In these cases the factor used for calibration must be corrected. In the present study the influence of various shapes of PE phantoms on the dosemeter response is reviewed using the trunk of an elliptical phantom (225 mm x 315 mm x 580 mm), a sphere of 300 mm diameter made of PE, and a PE cube, side of which was 300 mm. The assessment of the influence of various phantoms on dosemeter response was accomplished using several energies of X and gamma reference radiations, as well as a 252Cf neutron radiation with various moderators. (author)