Calculation of the maximum allowed ambient dose rate outside CT rooms to quantitatively assess the structural shielding performance.

The goal of this study was to develop a method to quantitatively assess the structural shielding performance of computed tomography (CT) rooms in Switzerland. The method was based on the comparison between calculated maximum allowed ambient dose rate (DR) and measured ambient DR in adjacent spaces. If the measured DR exceeds the calculated maximum allowed value, additional shielding is required; otherwise the shielding is sufficient. The maximum allowed ambient DR was calculated using two different shielding concepts either based on the tube loading of the scanner or on the accumulated dose length product of the scans. The method was validated for 36 spiral CT head protocols. The average ratio of the maximum allowed ambient DR between both concepts was 1.11 (range 0.57-2.14). Among 36 CT rooms, 7 room boundaries were insufficiently shielded. In conclusion, this method allows the authority to check on-site the compliance of the structural shielding with legal requirements.

Neutrino Induced Doppler Broadening.

When a nucleus undergoes beta decay via the electron capture reaction, it emits an electron neutrino. The neutrino emission gives a small recoil to the atom, which can be experimentally observed as a Doppler broadening on subsequently emitted gamma rays. Using the two-axis flat-crystal spectrometer GAMS4 and the electron capture reaction in (152)Eu, the motion of atoms having an excess kinetic energy of 3 eV in the solid state was studied. It is shown how the motion of the atom during the first hundreds of femtoseconds can be reconstructed. The relevance of this knowledge for a new neutrino helicity experiment is discussed.

Study of Interatomic Potentials Using the Crystal-GRID Method on Oriented Single Crystals of Ni, Fe, and Cr.

The Crystal-GRID method is used to study interatomic collisions at low energy in metals and such to probe the repulsive interatomic potential. Line shapes of gamma rays, emitted by the recoiling (59)Ni isotope after thermal neutron capture in Ni single crystals, were measured and compared to results obtained by molecular dynamics simulations of the slowing down. The same procedure is also used for recoiling (57)Fe and (54)Cr atoms in Fe and Cr single crystals, respectively. Different potentials (including several from the embedded atom method) are investigated using the observed fine structure of the line shape which depends on the crystal orientations. From the detailed study of the lineshapes measured in two different orientations, a new potential is then derived for each element. Nuclear state lifetimes for the excited isotopes are also deduced with a higher precision than obtained with standard nuclear techniques.

Calibration and testing of a TLD dosemeter for area monitoring.

The response of a TLD-600/TLD-700 area dosemeter has been characterized in neutron fields around the 590 MeV cyclotron ring at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). The dosemeter is based on a cylindrical paraffin moderator with three of each type of TLD chip at the centre, and is intended to use for area monitoring around accelerator facilities. The dosemeter is calibrated in terms of ambient dose equivalent using a non-moderated 252Cf neutron source. The ambient dose equivalent response has been tested in five locations where the neutron fields and dose rates have been well characterized by Bonner sphere spectrometer and active neutron monitor measurements. The different spectrum shapes and dose rates in the five locations permit the comparison of the behavior of the active and passive dosemeters in these neutron fields.

Individual monitoring of internal exposure for nuclear medicine workers in Switzerland.

Monitoring of internal exposure for nuclear medicine workers requires frequent measurements due to the short physical half-lives of most radionuclides used in this field. The aim of this study was to develop screening measurements performed at the workplace by local staff using standard laboratory instrumentation, to detect whether potential intake has occurred. Such measurements do not enable to determine the committed effective dose, but are adequate to verify that a given threshold is not exceeded. For radioiodine, i.e. (123)I, (124)I, (125)I and (131)I, a calibrated surface contamination monitor is placed in front of the thyroid to detect whether the activity threshold has been exceeded. For radionuclides with very short physical half-lives (≤ 6 h), such as (99m)Tc and those used in positron emission tomography imaging, i.e. (11)C, (15)O, (18)F and (68)Ga, screening procedures consist in performing daily measurements of the ambient dose rate in front of the abdomen. Other gamma emitters used for imaging, i.e. (67)Ga, (111)In and (201)Tl, are measured with a scintillation detector located in front of the thorax. For pure beta emitters, i.e. (90)Y and (169)Er, as well as beta emitters with low-intensity gamma rays, i.e. (153)Sm, (177)Lu, (186)Re and (188)Re, the procedure consists in measuring hand contamination immediately after use. In Switzerland, screening procedures have been adopted by most nuclear medicine services since such measurements enable an acceptable monitoring while taking into account practical and economic considerations.