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No abstract available

[en] Short note

[en] Brief item

[en] The relationship of TL response and glow curve structure of LiF(Mg,Cu,P) to the concentration of dopants has been investigated systematically. The experimental results have shown that the relative height and light integration of the main glow peak depend strongly upon the technique of preparing the TL material and the proportion of dopants. The change of Mg, P concentration influences principally the height and the width of the main glow peak (210⁰C) and the higher temperature peak (250⁰C). The change of Cu concentration influences not only the 210⁰C, 250⁰C peaks, but also the lower temperature peak (110⁰C). The present investigation defines an optimum proportion of dopant concentrations and a preparation procedure. (author)

[en] Following the discussion of two proposals to achieve a unified set of neutron fluence to ambient dose equivalent conversion factors from calculated data of various authors, a resulting procedure and fluence to ambient dose equivalent conversion functions for photons and neutrons are presented which may be a basis for future recommendations. (author)

[en] The innovations recommended in ICRP Publication 26 give rise to questionable consequences for current radiation protection practice. One of the most efficient is a proliferation of quantities for external exposure, the so called ''operational quantities'', devoid of any physical basis and scientifically undesirable. This risks undermining the unitary order given to the formulation of the limits. Moreover, as soon as an agreement is reached, then most of the instrumentation used at present should be replaced or modified. In the case of neutron dosimetry, at the moment, changes would be inappropriate. This is because one must take into account the results from the reassessment of the doses received by Japanese who were exposed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the recent rumours about an increase of the quality factor at low doses. While awaiting further reflection on the matter, the way to continue to use the most popular neutron environmental instrument, the rem-counter is explained. The proposed solution, which is as open to question as any other, should at least allow considerable economical advantages and secure the continuity of current practice. (author)

[en] A microprocessor controlled instrument has been developed for continuous, unattended, long-term monitoring of ambient concentration of radon and thoron gas and their short-lived decay products. The instrument basically consists of two independent although interconnected systems. The primary system is designed to determine the radon and thoron daughters and consists of a sampling head housing a filter facing a ruggedised Si barrier detector. The secondary system has been designed to measure radon and thoron gas concentrations. It consists of an electrostatic precipitator (a cylindrical tank of 3 1 volume) operated from a 1500 V DC voltage supply. A custom designed Si barrier wafer detector is located at the centre of the precipitator and is galvanically connected to ground potential. The primary and secondary detectors are fed through charge-sensitive preamplifiers and main amplifiers to identical spectroscopy grade multichannel analysers. The instrument is of the active kind, i.e., uses a sampling pump to collect and carry the radioactive gases and their daughter products. The pump operates at a nominal flow rate of 11.min^-1. The instrument is based on time-integrating principles and has been tested extensively under a variety of radioactive environmental conditions; it should prove quite useful in environmental monitoring for health physics, occupational and engineering purposes. (author)

[en] An editorial discusses recent arguments on modifying the age and time related limit on the accumulated exposure to radiation. This leads on to whether the linearity hypothesis and absence of a threshold dose assumed by the ICRP is overconservative and whether more attention should be paid to the precision with which high doses are measured. (U.K.)

[en] The doses to the Norwegian population from foodstuffs after the fall-out from the Chernobyl accident are discussed. Based on the results of a 'food basket' project and supplementary data from the approx. 30,000 measurements on food samples during the first year after the accident, the total annual effective dose equivalent from foodstuffs to an average Norwegian consumer during the first year after the accident was estimated to be 0.15 ± 0.02 mSv at the 95% confidence level. The contribution from ¹³¹I was estimated to be less than 3% of the total effective dose equivalent in the first year. The individual doses, however, depend very much on dietary habits. The southern Lapps are probably the population receiving the highest doses. Individual reindeer-breeding Lapps, neglecting some of the dietary guidelines from the health authorities, may have received an effective dose equivalent of 20-30 mSv in the first year after the accident. (author)