Qualification of Specially Prepared Clothing Material for Gamma Dosimetry: Application to Mixed Neutron-Photon Radiation Fields

When an irradiation accident occurs, it is very important for medical treatment to be able to reconstruct the cartography of the dose absorbed by the irradiated person. The cotton textile 'dosimetric cotton' to which an α-alumina dosimetric powder is fixed, has been devised in LPES-CRESA. It can be used to clothe persons subjected to irradiation risks. By taking a number of precautions, the dose may be determined from measurements of the thermoluminescence (TL). Some TL tests, which are meant to describe the characteristics of the dosimetric textile in various irradiation configurations, are described. In particular, it is shown that the dosimetric cotton is especially appropriate for gamma dosimetry in mixed neutron-gamma fields. It covers the field of accident dosimetry extensively and the low detection limit actually obtained is 0.10 Gy.