Temperature dependency of radiophotoluminescence glass dosimeter sensitivity

Temperature dependency of radiophotoluminescence glass dosimeter sensitivity was examined by irradiation of the dosimeter elements in an artificial climate experiment chamber. Two laboratories (A and B) independently measured the radiation dose of the elements irradiated simultaneously. The dosimeter elements were irradiated by γ-rays from a combined source of ¹³⁷Cs (3.3 MBq) and ⁶⁰Co (1.9 MBq) at four different temperature levels; -10degC, 0degC, 20degC and 30degC. Statistically significant decrease of the sensitivity at low temperature was observed by both laboratories, however, declining rates of the sensitivity with temperature were different for each. Average decrease rates were 0.047±0.025% deg^-1 and 0.091±0.033% deg^-1 for laboratories A and B, respectively. The maximum declining rate of 0.052% deg^-1 and 0.17% deg^-1 were observed by A and B, respectively. The reason for this discrepancy between the two laboratories was unknown, and further study is required to elucidate this problem. (author)