TARINING COURSE ON QA/QC

OF NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS
Radiation Units, Dose Limits and
Operational Quantities

Unit objectives

The objective of this unit is to present the quantities
used for radiation protection, their relationship, and
appropriate units. The definitions of physical
quantities, protection quantities and operational
quantities are reviewed.

At the completion of this unit, the student should
understand how the protection and operational
quantities were defined.
Quantities and Units - Unit Outline
Physical Quantities
Protection Quantities
Operational Quantities
Quantities for radiation measurement and
dose assessment
Physical quantities - Directly measurable.

Protection quantities - Defined for dose limitation
purposes, but not directly measurable.

Operational quantities - Measurable for
demonstration of compliance with dose limits.
Physical Quantities
Physical quantities
Fluence

Exposure

Kerma

Absorbed dose

Fluence, u
The fluence, u , is the quotient of dN by da,
where dN is the number of particles incident on
a sphere of cross section da, thus

u = dN/da


The unit of fluence is m
-2


Exposure, X
where dQ is the absolute value of the total charge
of ions produced in air when all the electrons
liberated in air of mass dm are completely stopped
in air.
X is used to indicate the amount of ionization in air
produced by x- or gamma-ray radiation.
The SI unit of exposure is the coulomb per
kilogram (C/kg).
dm
dQ
X =
Exposure
The old, special unit of exposure is the rntgen
(R).
1R = 2.58 x 10
-4
C kg
-1
(exactly)
Exposure, X, in units of C kg
-1
, is related to air
kerma as follows:


where W is the average energy to produce an
ion pair, g is the fraction of secondary charged
particles that is lost to bremsstrahlung radiation
production and e is the electronic charge
( )
W
e g 1 K
X
a

=
The quantity kerma, K, is defined as:

K=dE
tr
/dm

where dE
tr
is the sum of the initial kinetic energies
of all charged ionizing particles liberated by
uncharged ionizing particles in a material of mass
dm.

Kerma in air, K
a
, is used for radiation protection
measurement purposes.

The SI unit of kerma is the joule per kilogram
(J/kg), termed gray (Gy).
Kerma, K
The absorbed dose, D, is defined as:


where is the mean energy imparted by ionizing
radiation to matter in a volume element and dm is
the mass of matter in the volume element.

The energy can be averaged over any defined
volume, the average dose is the total energy
imparted in the volume divided by the mass in the
volume.

The SI unit of absorbed dose is the joule per
kilogram (J/kg), termed the gray (Gy)
Absorbed dose, D
dm
d
D
c
=
c d
Linear Energy Transfer
LET is a measure of how, as a function of
distance, energy is transferred from radiation to
the exposed matter
A high value of LET indicates that energy is
deposited within a small distance
LET is a measure of the relative biological impact
of a given radiation type
Alpha particles and recoil particles from neutron
interactions have high LET values
Protection Quantities
Primary physical quantities are not
used directly for dose limitation
The same dose levels of different radiations (i.e.
photons and neutrons) do not have the same
level of biological effect
Radiation weighting factor, w
R

(related to radiation quality)
Different body tissues have different biological
sensitivities to the same radiation type and dose
Tissue weighting factor, w
T

ICRP has defined Protection
Quantities for dose limitation
Equivalent dose

Used for individual tissues or organs

Effective dose
Used for the whole body
Equivalent dose, H
T,R
The absorbed dose in an organ or tissue multiplied
by the relevant radiation weighting factor w
R
:
H
T,R
= w
R
D
T,R

where D
T,R
is the average absorbed dose in the
organ or tissue T, and w
R
is the radiation weighting
factor for radiation R.
w
R
is related to LET

Equivalent dose, H
T
When the radiation field is composed of different
radiation types with different values of w
R
the
equivalent dose is:

H
T
= w
R
D
T,R



The unit of equivalent dose is J/kg, termed the
Sievert (Sv).
Radiation weighting factors, w
R

Type and energy ranges
Radiation
weighting
factor, w
R
1
1
5
10
20
10
5

5
Photons, all energies
Electrons and muons, all energies
Neutrons, energy < 10 keV
10 keV to 100 keV
100 keV to 2 MeV
> 2 MeV to 20 MeV
> 20 MeV

Protons, other than recoil protons, energy > 2 MeV
Alpha particles, fission fragments, heavy nuclei 20
1) All values relate to the radiation incident on the body, or,
for internal sources, emitted from the source.
Neutron radiation weighting
factors
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
w
R
Neutron energy - MeV
10
-8
10
-7
10
-6
10
-5
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
1 10 10
2
ICRP Recommendation
ICRP Approximation
Effective dose, E
T
A summation of the tissue equivalent doses, each
multiplied by the appropriate tissue weighting
factor:

E = w
T
H
T



where H
T
is the equivalent dose in tissue T and
w
T
is the tissue weighting factor for
tissue T.
T

Multipliers of the equivalent dose to an organ or tissue to

account for the different sensitivities to the induction of
stochastic effects of radiation.

Tissue or organ w
T
Tissue or organ w
T


Gonads 0.20 Bone marrow (red) 0.12
Colon 0.12 Lung 0.12
Stomach 0.12 Bladder 0.05
Breast 0.05 Liver 0.05
Oesophagus 0.05 Thyroid 0.05
Skin 0.01 Bone surface 0.01
Remainder 0.05 TOTAL 1.00
Tissue weighting factors
Committed Effective Dose
Internal exposure continues for some time after
intake.
Actual exposure duration depends on the
radionuclide.
The exposure is said to be committed.
Assess the committed effective dose over a 50
year period.

Recommended dose limits

Application
Occupational Public

Effective dose
1


20 mSv per year, averaged
over defined periods of 5 years

1 mSv in a year

Annual equivalent dose in

the lens of the eye 150 mSv 15 mSv
the skin 500 mSv 50 mSv
the hands and feet 500 mSv
1 The limits apply to the sum of doses from external exposure and the 50-
year committed dose (to age 70 years for children) from intakes in the same
period (see paragraph 143 of ICRP 60)
Operational Quantities
Protection Quantities can not be
measured so,
Secondary or Operational Quantities are used for
occupational monitoring
The ICRU* has defined 3 Operational Quantities
for external monitoring:
Area Monitoring
Ambient dose equivalent
Directional dose equivalent
Individual Monitoring
Personal dose equivalent

* International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements
Operational Quantities have the
body in mind
All 3 quantities are defined using tissue-like objects
to simulate radiation interaction properties of
tissue.
ICRU soft tissue substitute:
10.1 % hydrogen
11.1 % carbon
2.6 % nitrogen
76.2 % oxygen
Area
monitoring
Individual
monitoring
Ambient dose equivalent, H*(d)
H*(d) at a point in a radiation field, is the
dose equivalent that would be produced
by the corresponding aligned and
expanded field in the ICRU sphere at a
depth,d, on the radius opposing the
direction of the aligned field.

A depth, d = 10 mm is recommended for
strongly penetrating radiation.
Expanded fields
Field at point, P
Expanded field
P P P
P
o
Expanded and aligned field
P
Directional dose equivalent, H(d,O)
H(d,O) at a point in a radiation field, is the
dose equivalent that would be produced by
the corresponding expanded field in the
ICRU sphere at depth d, on a radius in a
specified direction, O.

A depth, d = 0.07 mm is recommended for
weakly penetrating radiation.
Personal dose equivalent, H
P
(d)
H
P
(d) is defined for both strongly and weakly
penetrating radiations.

H
P
(d) is the dose equivalent in soft tissue below
a specified point on the body at an appropriate
depth d.

Depths of d = 10 mm for strongly penetrating
radiation and d = 0.07 mm for weakly penetrating
radiation are recommended.
Thank you