The Design of an Ambient Neutron Dose-Equivalent Meter

At present, most of the developed neutron dosimeters used to measure the neutron ambient dose-equivalent that has a moderator with a single counter, applied in neutron radiation fields within large range energies from thermal to MeV neutrons, are not a satisfaction to energy response. The purpose of this article is to design a suitable neutron dosimeter for radiation protection purpose. In order to overcome the disadvantage of the energy response of the neutron dosimeters combining a single sphere with a single counter, three spheres and three H3e counters were combined for the detector design. The response function of moderators with different thicknesses combined with SP9 H3e counters were calculated with Monte Carlo code MCNP 4C. The selection of three different thicknesses of the moderating polyethylene sphere was done with a MATLAB program. A suitable combination of three different thicknesses was confirmed for the detector design. The electronic system of the neutron dosimeter was introduced. The results of ambient dose-equivalent per unit fluence in different radiation areas were calculated, analyzed, and compared with the values recommended in the ISO standard. The calculated result explains that it is very significant to this design of neutron dosimeter; it may be applied to the monitor of the ambient dose in the neutron radiation fields, improving at present the status of the energy response of neutron dosimeters.