Internal dosimetry
- Fig. 1: Shielding chamber and detectors
- Fig. 2: Kneephantom (courtesy M. A. Lopez, CIEMAT, Spain).
- Fig. 3: Calibration measurement with skull phantom (provided by K. König, BfS, Germany)
In vivo measurements with a partial body counter
Motivation
- Measurement of incorporated radionuclides
- Dose estimates after incorporation of radioactive substances
- Emphasis on bone-seeking radionuclides
- Examples: 226Ra, 210Pb, 241Am
Experimental Setup (Fig. 1)
- shielding chamber about 8 m below the surface of the earth
- materials used: sand, steel, lead, copper
- detection: 4-6 Germanium detectors (crystal thickness: 1.2 – 3 cm; diameter: 5 – 7 cm)
- emphasis on detection of low energies
- calibration: 241Am and 210Pb skull phantoms (from BfS, Neuherberg, Germany) (Fig. 3)
- calibration: 241Am knee phantoms (from CIEMAT, Spain, and DOE, USA) (Fig. 2)
- Future - Towards Personalised Dosimetry
- Future work aims at developing methods to calibrate the partical body counter based on individual body parameters. This work will include development of suitable voxel phantoms for computational calibration of the counter, and development of tools to quantify the influcence of critical body parameters on the detection efficiency of the counter. In the end, this work will allow a more precise "personalised" quantification of internal doses after incorporation of various radionuclides.
- References:
- G.H. Kramer, B. Hauck, K. Capello, W. Rühm, N. El-Faramawy, D. Groggio, D. Franck, M.A. Lopez, T. Navarro, J.F. Navarro, B. Perez, S. Tolmachev. Comparison of two leg phantoms containing 241Am in bone. In preparation, 2010.
- M.A. Lopez, d. Broggio, K. Capello, E. Cardenas-Mendez, N. El-Faramawy, D. Franck, A.C. James, G.H. Kramer, G. Lacerenza, T.P. Lynch, J.F. Navarro, T. Navarro, B. Perez, W. Rühm, S.Y. Tolmachev, E. Weitzenegger. EURADOS intercomparison on measurements and Monte Carlo modeling for the assessment of americium in a USTUR leg phantom. Radiat Prot Dosim, accepted, 2010.