Development of new two-dosimeter algorithm for effective dose in ICRP Publication 103.

The two-dosimeter method, which employs one dosimeter on the chest and the other on the back, determines the effective dose with sufficient accuracy for complex or unknown irradiation geometries. The two-dosimeter method, with a suitable algorithm, neither significantly overestimates (in most cases) nor seriously underestimates the effective dose, not even for extreme exposure geometries. Recently, however, the definition of the effective dose itself was changed in ICRP Publication 103; that is, the organ and tissue configuration employed in calculations of effective dose, along with the related tissue weighting factors, was significantly modified. In the present study, therefore, a two-dosimeter algorithm was developed for the new ICRP 103 definition of effective dose. To that end, first, effective doses and personal dosimeter responses were calculated using the ICRP reference phantoms and the MCNPX code for many incident beam directions. Next, a systematic analysis of the calculated values was performed to determine an optimal algorithm. Finally, the developed algorithm was tested by applying it to beam irradiation geometries specifically selected as extreme exposure geometries, and the results were compared with those for the previous algorithm that had been developed for the effective dose given in ICRP Publication 60.