An optimized method for neutron dose evaluation based on 24Na activity distribution in the human body

Abstract The neutron dose resulting from external irradiation can be evaluated by measuring the counts of characteristic γ rays produced by 24Na in the human body. The detection geometry with the highest detection efficiency for measuring the whole-body 24Na activity has not been studied. In this work, the MCNP code is used to calculate the spatial distribution of 24Na in the human body irradiated by neutrons with different energies in different irradiation geometries. The fluence distribution of 24Na characteristic γ rays on the body surface is calculated. The counts of 24Na characteristic γ rays induced by monochromatic neutron irradiation are simulated to fit the scenarios of neutron irradiation by a continuous energy spectrum neutron. When the spontaneous neutrons from 252Cf with 1Gy dose irradiate the human body, (3.63–4.35) × 1010 24Na atoms are produced. The lower detection limit for the neutron absorption dose is reduced from ∼100 to less than 1 mGy when the radiation detector is placed over the back of the human body close to the liver. The relative error between the measured counts of 24Na characteristic γ rays caused by 252Cf neutron irradiation and the counts fitted by monochromatic neutron irradiation data is less than 5.7%. The neutron dose received from a continuous energy spectrum neutron can be acquired quickly and accurately by weighted summing of the data for monochromatic neutron irradiations calculated in this paper, which is more convenient and practical than the previous method.