The Development of Retrospective Luminescence Dosimetry for Dose Reconstruction in Areas Downwind of Chernobyl

Abstract

A role that is emerging for luminescence as a retrospective dosimetry method is in supporting dose reconstruction for contaminated settlements that have remained occupied and where monitoring was absent or sporadic following the accident. The level of cumulative external gamma dose (in ceramic) in these settlements is expected to approach levels below 50 mGy which corresponds to the dose due to natural sources of radiation (in ceramic) after ~20 years. Recent progress made in developing the method for use in contaminated settlements within Russia and Ukraine has shown that such levels of dose can be evaluated with ceramics. This has been achieved by improvements in luminescence measurement techniques and in several methodological developments including the characterisation of the external time-averaged gamma radiation field by means of depth-dose profiles in brick and the application of computational modelling techniques to provide dose in air estimates at reference locations that are suitable for use in dose reconstruction.