PERSONAL NEUTRON DIODE DOSIMETER

The control and management of neutron doses, received by workers in nu clear power plants or research facilities, requires a knowledge of cum ulated dose equivalent or dose equivalent rate in real time. Individua l dosemeters so far developed for this purpose are scarce and not very satisfactory. Passive dosemeters such as TLD systems based on the alb edo effect, nuclear emulsions or solid track detectors, do not give su fficiently accurate measurements. Furthermore, the increase in the qua lity factor and the more restrictive new ICRP recommendations diminish the maximum admissible threshold making currently used systems obsole te. Other than bubble dosemeter systems, based on thermodynamic effect s of a superheated gel, no simple electronic device is available at th e present time. The development of diode based dosimetric gamma badges , having a size similar to that of credit cards, has stimulated us to design and develop a personal neutron dosemeter based on a double diod e system. The results obtained are very encouraging and practical mode ls should become available in the near future.