Two methods for examining angular response of personnel dosimeters

The American National Standard ANSI N13.11-1983 is used to test the accuracy (bias plus precision) of dosimetry processors as part of the dosimetry accreditation program of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP). Section 3.8 of the ANSI N13.11-1983 standard requires that a study of the angular response of a dosimeter be carried out once, although no pass/fail criterion is given for angular response. The NVLAP accreditation program excluded Section 3.8, and thus no angular response data have been generated in an organized fashion. The objective of this project is to examine the feasibility of two alternative methods to test the angular response of personnel dosimeters. The first alternative involves static irradiations with the dosimeters at fixed angles to a radiation source. The second alternative involves dynamic irradiations with the dosimeters mounted on a rotating phantom. A Panasonic UD-802 personnel dosimetry system** was used to generate data to examine both alternatives. The results lead to two major conclusions. Firstly, Section 3.8 of the ANSI N13.11-1983 standard should be amended to require a pass/fail test for angular response. Secondly, a comparison between angular response data generated with a fixed or a rotating phantom shows that the rotating phantom is the more cost-effective method.