Calculating the ambient dose equivalent of fast neutrons using elemental composition of human body

摘要

The sphere of International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) consists of 4-elemental compositions of 76.2% oxygen (O), 11.1% carbon (C), 10.1% hydrogen (H), and 2.6% nitrogen (N) whereas there are 26 elemental compositions in the human body. In this work, human body elemental composition has been used to calculate the ambient dose equivalent rate of fast neutrons. 241Am–Be of 185 GBq (5 Ci) was utilized as neutron source. In addition, the conversion coefficients in International Commission on Radiological Protection publication 116 (ICRP 116) was used to verify from the results of using elemental compositions in the human body. The calculated results have been compared to those measured by a neutron monitor. The mean values of discrepancies from the measured values were within ∼8%. Moreover, systematic comparisons have been carried out with values published in literature. This work concluded that the elemental compositions in the human body could be used to design a phantom that has the same elemental composition of human body.