Emergency EPR dosimetry technique using vacuum-stored dry nails

Human finger- and toenails have been tested with an X-band EPR technique for different conditions of nail storage. The main radiation-induced signal at g=2.005 demonstrated good stability if the samples were stored in a vacuum at room temperature after nail harvesting and irradiation. On the basis of this phenomenon, a new protocol is proposed to use the nails as possible emergency EPR dosimeters. The dosimetry protocol was tested on laboratory-exposed samples and demonstrated the ability to recover doses in the region 0-10 Gy with an estimated uncertainty of approximately 0.3-0.4 Gy for doses in the range < 2 Gy, increasing to 0.6-0.7 Gy for doses in the range 5-10 Gy.