Radiation Dose to Occupational Dosimeters Brought on Commercial Air Travel

Occupational radiation dosimeters that return high readings cannot always be explained by circumstances in the workplace. For this experiment, a series of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dosimeters were brought to airports to estimate the radiation dose OSLs would receive should a worker accidentally bring their dosimeter with them during travel. The OSLs returned readings between 0.77 and 3.70 mSv. While factors such as scanning times, machine modality and model, flight duration, and elevation changes can all affect dosimeter readings, this small experiment provides a general range of dose readings to dosimeters to assist radiation safety program managers in quantifying true radiation dose from the workplace.