Comparison of neutron personnel monitors: preliminary results of a European intercomparison programme

The increasing use of nuclear power plants has led to renewed efforts in the development and application of neutral personnel dose meters. In this context an irradiation programme was arranged in order to test dose-meter systems from 15 European laboratories under the same irradiation conditions. Irradiation was performed with fast neutrons in a low backscatter environment, the dose meters being arranged both on a tissue-equivalent phantom and free in air where appropriate. As radiation sources, target reactions at a 3 MeV accelerator were used, producing approximately monoenergetic neutrons in the range 0.5-15 MeV, as well as an americium-beryllium neutron source and a californium spontaneous fission neutron source. The dose-meter systems submitted by the participating institutes were as follows: conventional nuclear track films, dose meters based on the albedo principle but of various technical designs, non-photographic nuclear track detectors with and without an external fission converter, and thermoluminescence detectors. The irradiation conditions, the equipment for monitoring of the radiation, and the physical properties of the dose-meter systems are described. Some preliminary results, obtained with various dose meters, are reported and intercompared. (author)