A review of environmental monitoring using solid state dosemeters, and guidelines for technical procedures

The practical aspects of environmental programmes using thermoluminescence and photoluminescence dosemeter systems are reviewed. The review discusses developments in national and international standards, and discusses the optimisation of the read-out technique, routine calibration procedures and the treatment of random and systematic errors. The paper discusses the problems of measuring man-made dose contributions with low random errors, the estimation of this contribution being based on the interpretation of field results, taking into account the contribution of natural background radiation and of transit exposures. (author)