Cosmic-ray neutron simulations and measurements in Taiwan

This study used simulations of galactic cosmic ray in the atmosphere to investigate the neutron background environment in Taiwan, emphasising its altitude dependence and spectrum variation near interfaces. The calculated results were analysed and compared with two measurements. The first measurement...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiation protection dosimetry 2014-10, Vol.161 (1-4), p.303-306
Main Authors: Chen, Wei-Lin, Jiang, Shiang-Huei, Sheu, Rong-Jiun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air
Aircraft
Algorithms
Altitude
Atmosphere - analysis
Computer Simulation
Cosmic Radiation
Monte Carlo Method
Neutrons
Radiation Dosage
Radiation Monitoring - instrumentation
Radiation Monitoring - methods
Seasons
Software
Taiwan
Water
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Summary:This study used simulations of galactic cosmic ray in the atmosphere to investigate the neutron background environment in Taiwan, emphasising its altitude dependence and spectrum variation near interfaces. The calculated results were analysed and compared with two measurements. The first measurement was a mobile neutron survey from sea level up to 3275 m in altitude conducted using a car-mounted high-sensitivity neutron detector. The second was a previous measured result focusing on the changes in neutron spectra near air/ground and air/water interfaces. The attenuation length of cosmic-ray neutrons in the lower atmosphere was estimated to be 163 g cm(-2) in Taiwan. Cosmic-ray neutron spectra vary with altitude and especially near interfaces. The determined spectra near the air/ground and air/water interfaces agree well with measurements for neutrons below 10 MeV. However, the high-energy portion of spectra was observed to be much higher than our previous estimation. Because high-energy neutrons contribute substantially to a dose evaluation, revising the annual sea-level effective dose from cosmic-ray neutrons at ground level in Taiwan to 35 μSv, which corresponds to a neutron flux of 5.30 × 10(-3) n cm(-2) s(-1), was suggested.
ISSN:0144-8420
1742-3406
DOI:10.1093/rpd/ncu030