VARIATIONS OF NATURAL RADIATION BACKGROUND AND THEIR EFFECT ON DETECTOR RESPONSE

For selected detectors, the influence of variations of different compo nents of the natural radiation field on the resulting signal was treat ed both theoretically and experimentally. Different radiation fields w ere modelled using a Monte Carlo code. Calculated changes in spectral distributions of the photon air kerma and ambient dose equivalent were used for predictions of the behaviour of different detectors. The the oretical values of the response to photon radiation were checked exper imentally using in situ gamma spectrometry. Estimates of variations in detector response thus obtained are useful for making decisions about the minimum level of additional radiation that can be revealed throug h the measurement. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.