Conversion coefficients from total air kerma to the newly proposed ICRU/ICRP operational quantities for radiation protection for photon reference radiation qualities.

ABSTRACT

The International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) has recently proposed a set of new operational quantities for radiation protection. ICRU supplied conversion coefficients for mono-energetic photons but not for photon reference radiation qualities defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in ISO 4037 and by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in IEC 61267. Therefore, in this work, conversion coefficients from total air kerma to the newly proposed operational quantities are averaged for photon reference radiation qualities. Also, parameters necessary to determine the influence of the air density on the conversion coefficients are determined. Finally, the impact of the newly proposed quantities upon the response of dosemeters is investigated.