Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Development of a prototype TL/OSL reader for on-site use in a large-scale radiological accident

  • Hyoungtaek Kim (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Chang-Young Park (Dept. of Physics, Gyeongsnag National University) ;
  • Sang In Kim (ARIM Science) ;
  • Min Chae Kim (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Jungil Lee (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
  • Received : 2023.11.08
  • Accepted : 2024.01.13
  • Published : 2024.06.25
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Abstract

This study presents the development and characterization of a prototype TL/OSL reader for the retrospective dose assessment of individuals in radiological emergencies. The reader is portable, semi-automatic, and capable of accurate measurements. The dimension of the reader is 25 × 25 × 37 cm3 and the weight is about 15 kg. The reader consists of a sample moving stage, a heating module, an optical stimulation module, a detection module, a data acquisition (DAQ) unit, a nitrogen gas control module, and a PC with a GUI program. The reader has three measurement modes: TL, CW_OSL, and custom mode. The reader was characterized using commercial thermal luminescence dosimeters (TLD, LiF:Mg,Cu,Si) and optically stimulated dosimeters (OSLD, Al2O3:C), as well as fortuitous materials, such as display glasses and resistors of mobile phone. The results showed that the reader is capable of measuring signals with a detection limit of up to 0.02 mGy using a commercial dosimeter. In the dose recovery test using fortuitous materials, the reconstructed doses obtained three days post-irradiation closely aligned with the initially administered doses. As a result, this study suggests that the developed TL/OSL reader is a promising instrument for emergency dose assessment at accident sites.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The study was carried out under the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (Ministry of Science and ICT) (RS-2022-00144350, RS-2022-00144210) and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (project number: 521410-23).

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