Comparative study of three types of civil defense high-range pocket dosimeters

Civil defense shelters are stocked with high-range (0- to 200-R) CDV-742 pocket dosimeters. These dosimeters are intended for use by people that must leave the shelter when the environmental radiation level is either high or unknown. A total of 67 CDV-742 dosimeters were obtained and studied during the summer of 1986 at Oak Ridge National Lab. Health Physics Research Reactor (HPRR). Three different types of dosimeters (27 Bendix, 20 Landsverk-Gold, and 20 Landsverk-Yellow) in various combinations were exposed to 14 separate pulse operations of the HPRR. It can be concluded that the CDV-742 type dosimeters were not suitable for use in a neutron or mixed radiation field unless the spectra is known and correction factors determined in this study are properly applied. Further study is needed to determine the accuracy of these dosimeters in a pure gamma field and to determine their precision at the extreme ends of the dosimeter range. Furthermore, because of their failure rates, shelter occupants should consider exposure data from the Bendix and Landsverk-Yellow dosimeters to be highly unreliable unless sufficient evidence exists to support the exposure readings