CALCULATION OF SKIN DOSE DUE TO BETA CONTAMINATION USING THE NEW QUANTITY OF THE ICRP 116: THE 'LOCAL SKIN DOSE'

Values of the new protection quantity 'Local Skin Dose' LSD, introduced by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 116, were calculated for 134 β- or β+ emitting radionuclides, using the Monte Carlo code MCNP6. Two types of source geometry are considered: a point source and disc-type surface contamination (the source is placed in contact with the skin). This new protection quantity is compared with the operational quantity H'(0.07,0°), leading us to conclude that, in accordance with the rules of the ICRP, the operational quantity over-estimates the protection quantity to a reasonable extent, except in very rare cases for very low average beta energies. Thus, with the new skin model described in ICRP 116, there are no longer any major differences between the operational quantities and protection quantities estimated with the skin model described in ICRP 74.