DRDC Ottawa Participation in the SILENE Accident Dosimetry Intercomparison Exercise. June 10-21, 2002

DRDC Ottawa (and formerly as DREO) has participated in two NATO-sponsored and one TTCP-sponsored dosimetry intercomparisons. The SILENE International Accident Dosimetry Intercomparison Exercise at Valduc, France in June 2002 coincided with DRDC Ottawa work designed to refine its proposed criticality dosimetry system (consisting of Rh foils for neutron dosimetry and the combination of CaF2:Mn and Al2O3 TLDs for gamma-ray dosimetry). In addition, DRDC Ottawa has recently substantially expanded its efforts in radiation dosimetry - and this intercomparison offered a unique opportunity to showcase and quantify these new capabilities. The results presented herein conclusively show DRDC Ottawa's capabilities to measure accurately criticality fields. In particular the neutron dosimetric work produced near real-time results - consistent with the target doses. The Rh foils clearly demonstrated their arguably most important feature - near invariability of response for all conceivable fission-like spectra. The gamma-ray dosimeters also showed their efficacy. The SILENE International Accident Dosimetry Intercomparison Exercise at Valduc, France in June 2002 was implemented to test the international biodosimetry programs. DRDC Ottawa as well as several other countries participated in the international biodosimetry intercomparison. DRDC Ottawa used a Health Canada generated (137)Cs dose response curve to convert aberration frequencies into dose estimates.
The original document contains color images. All DTIC reproductions will be in black and white. Abstract and Summary in English and French.