Use of sugars and hair for ESR emergency dosimetry

ESR spectrometry of sugars and biological samples is being evaluated for emergency personnel dosimetry. Sugars are near tissue-equivalent, universally available in pure form and produce a simple, reproducible, low background signal. Of the sugars tested, sucrose and dextrose are the most sensitive and the ESR signals are proportional to X- or gamma-ray doses over the range of 0.5-10 Gy. There is little dependence on radiation energy or dose-rate, and the ESR signals remain stable for long periods post-irradiation. Human hair samples show considerable variability and signal complexity creating difficulties in dose assessment.