Dosimetric Quantities and Unit

Taiman Bin Kadni

Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia)

E-mail : taiman@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my
Phone : +603-89282983 or +603-89112000 ext.1260

Workshop on Nuclear Techniques in Agriculture for

Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA)
20 – 31 May 2013
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

 Exposure
 Kerma
 Absorbed dose
 Fluence
 Exposure, X

dQ
X 
dm
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).
 Exposure
 The old, special unit of exposure is the röntgen (R).
1R = 2.58 x 10-4 C kg-1 (exactly)

• Exposure, X, in units of C kg , is related to air kerma

-1

as follows:

K a 1  g e
X 
where W is the averageWenergy 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
 cont’d
• No longer used in radiation protection but there are
many equipments which give readings in R/h.
• Only applies to x and  rays (photons).
• Only shows ionization effects in air, not other
materials.
• Inaccurate to measure for high energy photon beams,
due to the long range of secondary electrons and
therefore electronics disequibrium.
• The used of the roentgen is limited : < 3 MeV photons.
• Limited validity.
 Cont’d
• W/e = 33.97 J/C
g = 0.3% for Co-60 and 0.15% for Cs-137.

•K a (Gy) = 8.76 x 10-3

. X (R) for x-rays and Ir-192.

•K a (Gy) = 8.78 x 10-3

(R) for Cs-137 gamma ray.

•K a (Gy) = 8.79 x 10-3

(R) for Co-60 gamma ray.

• An exposure of 1 R give a dose in air of 8.76x10-3 Gy ( =

0.876 rad ).
 Cont’d
• The exposure rate (X) can be related to the activity A
of a source( in units mCi) via:
X = /d2 x A
where
 is the exposure rate constant (Rcm2/h.mCi)
d is the distance from the source (cm)
The exposure rate constant for gamma sources:
Source 
Cs-137 3.249
Co-60 12.97
Ir-192 3.97
 Kerma, K
The quantity kerma, K, is defined as:

K=dEtr/dm

where dEtr 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, Ka, is used for radiation protection

measurement purposes.

The SI unit of kerma is the joule per kilogram

(J/kg), termed gray (Gy).
 Cont’d
• The energy of photons is imparted to matter in a
two-stage process.
• In the first stage the photon energy transfers to
electrons.
• In the second stage the electrons transfer to the
medium through ionizations and atomic excitations.
• Kerma, K (from the acronym for Kinetic Energy
Released in Material, sometimes per unit Mass)
quantifies the first stage, where the kinetic energy
transferred to charged particles by indirectly
ionizing radiation such as photons and neutrons.
 Absorbed dose, D
The absorbed dose, D, is defined as:
d
D
dm
where d  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)
 Cont’d
• Relevant to all types of ionizing radiation fields,
whether directly or indirectly ionizing, as well as to
any ionizing radiation source distributed within the
absorbing medium.
• The fundamental dosimetric quantity in radiological
protection.
• Applicable to any radiation and any medium
(unlimited validity)
• Old unit : 100 erg/g = 1 rad
• 1 Gy = 1 J/kg = 107erg/103 g = 104erg/g = 100 rad
or 1 rad = 1 cGy.
 Linear Energy Transfer
Linear Energy Transfer (LET)

 dE 
L   
 dl  
where dE is the energy lost by a charged particle
in traversing distance dl and  is an upper bound
on the energy transferred in any single collision.
The SI unit of LET is Jm-1
E may be expressed in eV, and hence L may be
expressed in eV/m or keV/µm.
 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
 Fluence, 
The fluence,  , is the quotient of dN by da,
where dN is the number of particles incident on
a sphere of cross section da, thus

 = dN/da

The unit of fluence is m-2

Protection Quantities
 Primary physical quantities are not used
directly for dose limitation
 The same dose levels of different radiations
(i.e. photons, electrons, neutrons,etc) do not
have the same level of biological effect.
 Radiation weighting factor, wR - as a measure of the
biological effectiveness of different radiations and
energies.
 Different body tissues have different biological
sensitivities to the same radiation type and
dose.
 Tissue weighting factor, wT as a measure of the
radiosensitivity of the various organs and tissues.
ICRP has defined Protection Quantities
for dose limitation

 Equivalent dose

Used for individual organs and tissues.

 Effective dose

Used for the whole body.

 Equivalent dose, HT,R

The absorbed dose in an organ or tissue multiplied by

the relevant radiation weighting factor wR:
HT,R = wR· DT,R
where DT,R is the average absorbed dose in the organ
or tissue T, and wR is the radiation weighting factor
for radiation R.
wR is related to LET
Example : an absorbed dose of 1Gy by alpha
particles will lead to an equivalent dose of 20 Sv.
 Equivalent dose, HT

When the radiation field is composed of different

radiation types with different values of wR the
equivalent dose is:

HT =  wR · DT,R
R

The unit of equivalent dose is J/kg, termed the

Sievert (Sv).
 Radiation weighting factors, wR1
Radiation
Type and energy ranges weighting
factor, wR
Photons, all energies 1
Electrons and muons, all energies 1
Neutrons, energy < 10 keV 5
10 keV to 100 keV 10
100 keV to 2 MeV 20
> 2 MeV to 20 MeV 10
> 20 MeV 5

Protons, other than recoil protons, energy > 2 MeV 5

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

ICRP Recommendation
25
ICRP Approximation
20
wR
15

10

0
10-8 10-7 10-6 10-5 10-4 10-3 10-2 10-1 1 10 102
Neutron energy - MeV
 Effective dose, ET
A summation of the tissue equivalent doses, each
multiplied by the appropriate tissue weighting
factor:

E =wT·HT
T

where HT is the equivalent dose in tissue T and wT

is the tissue weighting factor for
tissue T.
The unit of effective dose is sievert (Sv).
 Tissue weighting factors

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 wT Tissue or organ wT

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
 Recommended dose limits

Application Occupational Public

Effective dose1 20 mSv per year, averaged 1 mSv in a year

over defined periods of 5
years
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

Operational Quantities
 Protection Quantities

 Operational Quantities are used for occupational

monitoring
 The ICRU* has defined 3 Operational Quantities
for external monitoring:
 Area Monitoring

Ambient dose equivalent,H*(d)

Directional dose equivalent,H′(d,)
 Individual Monitoring

Personal dose equivalent,HP(d)

• * International Commission on Radiation Units and
Measurements
 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.
 Directional dose equivalent, H′(d,)

H′(d,) 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, .

A depth, d = 0.07 mm is recommended for

weakly penetrating radiation.
 Personal dose equivalent, HP(d)

 HP(d) is defined for both strongly and weakly

penetrating radiations.

 HP(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.
 Summary of Operational Quantities

Operational quantity for

External Task
Radiation
Area monitoring Individual
monitoring

Strongly Control of effective Ambient dose Personal dose

penetrating dose equivalent, H*(10) equivalent, HP(10)
radiation

Weakly penetrating Control of skin Directional dose Personal dose

radiation dose equivalent, equivalent,
H’(0.07,Ω) HP(0.07)
 References
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Assessment of Occupational
Exposure Due to External Sources of Radiation, Safety Guide RS-G-1.3
(1999).
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Calibration of Radiation
Protection Monitoring Instruments, Safety Series No. 16 (2000).
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIATION UNITS AND
MEASUREMENTS, Determination of Dose Equivalents Resulting from
External Radiation Sources, Report No. 39, ICRU, Bethesda, MD (1985).
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIATION UNITS AND
MEASUREMENTS, Determination of Dose Equivalents from External
Radiation Sources - Part 2, Report No. 43, ICRU, Bethesda, MD (1988).
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIATION UNITS AND
MEASUREMENTS, Measurement of Dose Equivalents Resulting from
External Photon and Electron Radiations, Report No. 47, ICRU, Bethesda,
MD (1992).
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON RADIATION UNITS AND
MEASUREMENTS, Quantities and Units in Radiation Protection Dosimetry,
Report No. 51, ICRU, Bethesda, MD (1993).