International intercomparison for criticality dosimetry: the case of biological dosimetry

• Published in: Radiation protection dosimetry Vol. 110; no. 1-4; p. 471
• Main Authors: Roy, L, Buard, V, Delbos, M, Durand, V, Paillole, N, Grégoire, E, Voisin, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.08.2004
• Subjects: Chromosome Aberrations; Chromosomes - radiation effects; Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; France; Gamma Rays; Humans; Internationality; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - pathology; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - radiation effects; Neutrons; Nuclear Reactors; Observer Variation; Quality Assurance, Health Care - methods; Radiation Dosage; Radiation Protection - methods; Radiation Protection - standards; Radioactive Hazard Release; Radiometry - methods; Radiometry - standards; Reference Standards; Relative Biological Effectiveness; Reproducibility of Results; Risk Assessment - methods; Risk Assessment - standards; Risk Factors; Safety Management - methods; Sensitivity and Specificity; France
• ISSN: 0144-8420
• DOI: 10.1093/rpd/nch349

The Institute of Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) organized a biological dosimetry international intercomparison with the purpose of comparing (i) dicentrics yield produced in human lymphocytes; (ii) the gamma and neutron dose estimate according to the corresponding laboratory calibration curve. The experimental reactor SILENE was used with different configurations: bare source 4 Gy, lead shield 1 and 2 Gy and a 60Co source 2 Gy. An increasing variation of dicentric yield per cell was observed between participants when there were more damages in the samples. Doses were derived from the observed dicentric rates according to the dose-effect relationship provided by each laboratory. Differences in dicentric rate values are more important than those in the corresponding dose values. The doses obtained by the participants were found to be in agreement with the given physical dose within 20%. The evaluation of the respective gamma and neutron dose was achieved only by four laboratories, with some small variations among them.