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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Is dust a suitable material for retrospective personal dosimetry?

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This work investigates the feasibility of using silicates contained in dust for retrospective individual dosimetry in case of a radiation accident or a radiological attack involving people not wearing physical dosimeters. It is well known that minerals (silicates) can be used for dosimetry and dust already plays an important role in the field of food irradiation detection using luminescence techniques as described in the European Standards (EN 13751 and EN 1788). This paper explores the feasibility of conducting retrospective personal dosimetry on the basis of thermoluminescence analysis of silicates extracted from dust on objects that people usually wear (e.g. jewelry, watches, keys and coins). The primary objective was to evaluate if the method is sufficiently sensitive for detection of dose levels at the order of several grays. The results were encouraging in the sense that most of the objects investigated contained sufficient silicates to reveal a TL signal well distinguishable from the natural background after irradiation in the laboratory with a dose of 10 Gy. However, it was also found that the radiation-induced signal varied by a factor of 10 among different objects as a consequence of differences in intrinsic luminescence sensitivity of the silicates. Additional studies are needed to more accurately assess the minimum detectable dose and to confirm the general applicability of the method for accidental situations.