Radiation dosimetry in Cyprus

Cyprus is a small island in the eastern part of the mediterranean sea with a population of 700,000. A small Physics Department in the Nicosia General Hospital is responsible for all matters related to ionising radiation. The main applications of ionising radiation are in medicine, some applications of radioisotopes in agriculture and hydrology research and very few applications in industry with sealed radiation sources. The same problems in radiation dosimetry are encountered as in any other countries but on a smaller scale. These have to be solved locally, because of the island's geographic isolation. All the infrastructure including Secondary Standard Dosemeters, field instruments and calibration sources is needed in order to achieve this, but the financial resources available are very limited. For this reason improvisation is often necessary. The Co-60 and other X-ray units intended for radiotherapy or other clinical use, are used as radiation sources for dosimetry and calibration of the instruments. Simple, locally made phantoms are designed in order to decrease costs whenever possible. (author). 7 refs, 1 fig