Personnel Dosimetry in the U.S.A.

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Abstract
The results of a survey on personnel dosimetry in the USA are presented. Survey questions posed to health physicists throughout the country related to external and internal dosimetry considerations and included references to the types of dosimeters used and their applications, e.g., design and response characteristics of currently used dosimeters, measurement and calculative techniques that apply to internal dose assessment and attitudes of health physicists towards adequacy of certain aspects of dosimetry. Results show the increasing use of thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) with about 23% of respondents indicating sole use of TLD compared to 34% indicating sole use of film for external dosimetry. Problems in measurement of skin dose appear aggravated in many cases because of poor badge design, a common defect being the excessively thick material covering the open window dosimeter; about 1/3 of respondents who knew the thickness of the material specified values considerably in excess of 7 mg cm-2. Opinions regarding what actually constitutes the skin dose and how it is determined from the dosimeter response vary widely among respondents. Neutron dosimetry is conducted by about 30% of the respondents; more than half of these individuals are using albedo dosimeters, and problems with energy dependence are noted. About 70% of respondents are involved in 1 or more aspects of internal dosimetry; most of these share the opinion that an improvement in biological and/or physiological data is among the most pressing needs in this area.

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