NE-507 Radiological Engineering

Class Lecture # 9&10

Radiation Dosimetry

Dr. M. Sohail
12-07-2021 (Summer Semester)
Department of Nuclear Engineering
Email: msohail@pieas.edu.pk

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Internally Deposited Radionuclides

❑ Radiation dose from internal emitters cannot be
measured directly

❑ The calculated dose depends on physical and biological

factors

❑ Physical factors are the type, energy and the

radiological half-life of the radiation

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Internally Deposited Radionuclides

❑ The biological factors include

❑ The distribution of the radioisotope within the body

❑ The kinetic behavior in the various organs and tissues,

such as
o Absorption rates
o Turnover rates
o Retention times

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Internally Deposited Radionuclides cont’d..

❑ For an infinitely large medium containing a uniformly
distributed radionuclide

❑ Absorbed energy must be equal to the of energy

emitted

❑ The energy absorbed per unit tissue mass per

transformation is called the specific effective energy
(SEE)

SEE(α or β) = <E> / m (MeV/t-kg)

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Effective Half-Life
❑ For internally deposited radionuclide, radionuclide
decay depends on two factors

❑ In situ (on site) radioactive decay (λR) and biological

elimination rate (λB)

❑ The quantity of radioactive material within an organ at

any time t after

𝑄 = 𝑄0 𝑒 −𝜆𝐸𝑡 Where λE = λR + λB

and effective half life is given by TE = 0.693/λE

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Dose Commitment
❑ The dose dD during an infinitesimally small period of
time dt at a time interval t after an initial dose rate
𝑑𝐷 = 𝐷0ሶ 𝑒 −𝜆𝐸𝑡 𝑑𝑡

❑ The total dose during a time interval t after deposition

of the radionuclide is
𝑡
𝐷ሶ
0
𝐷 = 𝐷0ሶ න 𝑒 −𝜆𝐸𝑡 𝑑𝑡 = (1 − 𝑒 −𝜆𝐸𝑡 )
0 𝜆𝐸

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Compartmental Dose
❑ Even for a uniformly distributed radioisotopes in the
body
o The retention rate for different compartments in the body
may be different
𝑞 𝑡 = 𝑓1 𝑞0 𝑒 −𝜆1𝑡 + 𝑓2 𝑞0 𝑒 −𝜆2𝑡 + ⋯ + 𝑓𝑛 𝑞0 𝑒 −𝜆𝑛 𝑡

❑ Where f1, f2, . . . , fn = fraction of the total activity

deposited in compartments 1, 2, . . . , n

❑ λ1, λ2, . . . , λn = effective clearance rates for

compartments 1, 2, . . . , n
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Compartmental Dose cont’d

❑ Dose to that organ or tissue for the multi-compartment
case
ሶ
𝐷10 𝐷 ሶ
20 𝐷 ሶ
𝑛0
𝐷= (1 − 𝑒 −𝜆1𝐸 𝑡 ) + (1 − 𝑒 −𝜆2𝐸 𝑡 ) + ⋯ + (1 − 𝑒 −𝜆𝑛𝐸𝑡 )
𝜆1𝐸 𝜆2𝐸 𝜆𝑛𝐸

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Gamma Emitters
❑ Organ cannot be assumed to be infinitely large for
gamma-emitting isotopes

❑ Only a fraction of the gamma energy is absorbed within

that tissue

❑ Consider an infinitesimal volume dV in a uniformly

distributed gamma-emitting nuclide

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Gamma Emitters cont’d..

❑ The dose rate at any point p due to the radioactivity in
the distance r from point p
𝑉 𝑒 −𝜇𝑟
𝐷ሶ = 𝐶Γ ‫׬‬0 2 𝑑𝑉
𝑟

𝑉 𝑒 −𝜇𝑟
define geometry factor, g = ‫׬‬0 𝑟 2 𝑑𝑉

❑ With C is the concentration of the isotope, Γ is the

specific gamma-ray emission, and μ linear energy
absorption coefficient

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Gamma Emitters cont’d..

The dose rate at the center of a sphere
𝑅 𝜋 2𝜋
𝐷ሶ = 𝐶Γ න 𝑟𝑒 −𝜇𝑟 𝑑𝑟 න 𝑟𝑑𝜃 න 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃𝑑𝜙
0 0 0

𝐷ሶ = 𝐶Γ𝑔
4𝜋
𝐷ሶ = 𝐶Γ (1 − 𝑒 −𝜇𝑅 )
𝜇

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Gamma Emitters cont’d..

The average dose rate for whole sphere
1
Define an average geometry factor, g෤ = ‫𝑉𝑑𝑔 ׬‬
𝑉

3
For sphere, g෤ = (𝑔)𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑒 Dose at all points from
4 volume element dV
The average dose rate is therefore , 𝐷ሶ = 𝐶Γ෤g
3𝜋
𝐷ሶ = 𝐶Γ (1 − 𝑒 −𝜇𝑅 )
𝜇

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Gamma Emitters cont’d..

At any other point in the sphere at a distance d from the
center

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External Exposure from Fast Neutrons

❑ The main mechanism of energy transfer is elastic
collision

❑ Elastically scattered nuclei dissipate their energy in the

immediate vicinity

❑ The radiation dose absorbed locally in this way is called

the first collision dose

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External Exposure from Fast Neutrons cont’d..

❑ The neutron dose is calculated as

where
φ(E ) = flux of neutrons whose energy is E
Ni = number of atoms per kilogram of the ith element,
σi = scattering cross section of the ith element
f = mean fractional energy transferred from neutron to
scattered atom

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External Exposure from Fast Neutrons
cont’d..

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External Exposure from Thermal Neutrons

❑ Two reactions are considered
o 14N(n, p)14C reaction
o 1H(n, γ )2H reaction

❑ For 1st type of reaction dose is given as

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External Exposure from Thermal Neutrons
cont’d..
Where
φ = Thermal flux, neutrons/cm2/s,
NN = Number of nitrogen atoms per kg tissue, 1.49 ×
1024,
σN = Absorption cross section for nitrogen, 1.75 × 10−24
cm2, and
Q = Energy released by the reaction, 0.63 MeV

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External Exposure from Thermal Neutrons
cont’d..
❑ 1H(n, γ )2H reaction is equivalent to having a uniformly
distributed gamma-emitting isotope

❑ The specific activity of this distributed gamma emitter, is

governed by the neutron flux

where
φ = thermal flux, neutrons/cm2/s,
NH = number of hydrogen atoms per kg tissue = 5.98 × 1025
σH = absorption cross section for hydrogen = 0.33 × 10−24
cm2

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