Neutron dose per fluence and weighting factors for use at high energy accelerators.

ABSTRACT

In June 2007, the United States Department of Energy incorporated revised values of neutron weighting factors into its occupational radiation protection regulation Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 835, as part of updating its radiation dosimetry system. This has led to a reassessment of neutron radiation fields at high energy accelerators such as those at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in the context of the amended regulation and contemporary guidance of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). Values of dose per fluence factors appropriate for accelerator radiation fields calculated elsewhere are collated and radiation weighting factors compared. The results of this revision to the dosimetric system are applied to americium-beryllium neutron energy spectra commonly used for instrument calibrations. Also, a set of typical accelerator neutron energy spectra previously measured at Fermilab are reassessed in light of the new dosimetry system. The implications of this revision and of recent ICRP publications are found to be of moderate significance.