• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2014

A whole body counter (WBC) is used in nuclear power plants (NPP) to identify and measure internal radioactivity of workers who is likely to ingest or inhale radionuclides. WBC has several counting geometry, i.e. the thyroid, lung, whole body and gastrointestinal tract, considered with the location where radionuclides are deposited in the body. But only whole body geometry is used to detect internal radioactivity during whole body counting at NPPs. It is overestimated internal exposure dose because this measured values are indicated as the most conservative radioactivity values among the them of others geometry. In this study, experiments to measure radioactivity depending on the counting geometry of WBC were carried out using a WBC, a phantom, and standard radiation sources in order to improve overestimated internal exposure dose. Quantitative criteria, could be selected counting geometry according to ratio of count rates of the upper and lower detectors of the WBC, are provided through statistical analysis method.