MCNP simulation of the H_P(10) energy response of a Brazilian TLD albedo neutron individual dosemeter, from thermal to 20 MeV

The Brazilian Instituto de Radioprotecao e Dosimetria (IRD) runs a neutron individual monitoring system with a home-made TLD albedo dosemeter. It has already been characterised and calibrated in some reference fields. However, the complete energy response of this dosemeter is not known, and the calibration factors for all monitored workplace neutron fields are difficult to be obtained experimentally. Therefore, to overcome such difficulties, Monte Carlo simulations have been used. This paper describes the simulation of the H_P(10) neutron response of the IRD TLD albedo dosemeter using the MCNPX transport code, for energies from thermal to 20 MeV. The validation of the MCNPX modelling is done comparing the simulated results with the experimental measurements for ISO standard neutron fields of ²⁴¹Am-Be, ²⁵²Cf, ²⁴¹Am-B and ²⁵²Cf(D₂O) and also for ²⁴¹Am-Be source moderated with paraffin and silicone. Bare ²⁵²Cf are used for normalisation. (authors)