Application of luminescence techniques in retrospective dosimetry

Luminescence signals measured from minerals within bricks or ceramic sample s can provide information about the absorbed radiation dose. This feature h as for several years been used in dating archaeological and geological samp les and recently luminescence techniques have been intensively used far ret rospective assessment of accident doses received by the population after a nuclear accident. The development of new luminescence techniques after the Chernobyl accident has considerably improved the sensitivity and precision in the evaluation of accident doses. This paper reviews the development wor k, especially on optically stimulated luminescence methods for retrospectiv e assessment of accident doses carried out at Riso National Laboratory in c ollaboration with the University of Helsinki as part bf a joint European Un ion research project. We demonstrate that doses lower than 100 mGy can be m easured from extracted brick quartz with a precision in the order of 1% usi ng newly developed optically stimulated luminescence dose evaluation protoc ols.