The Evaluation and Use of a Portable TEPC System for Measuring In-flight Exposure to Cosmic Radiation

A recent EC directive has called for all member states to introduce legislation covering the assessment and restriction of air crew exposure to cosmic radiation. In the UK the Civil Aviation Authority, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions issued guidelines...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiation protection dosimetry 2002-01, Vol.99 (1-4), p.435-438
Main Authors: C. Taylor, G., D. Bentley, R., J. Conroy, T., Hunter, R., B. L. Jones, J., Pond, A., J. Thomas, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Calibration
Cosmic Radiation
Medical sciences
Neutrons
Radiometry - instrumentation
Radiometry - methods
Space Flight
Space life sciences
United Kingdom
X-Rays
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Summary:A recent EC directive has called for all member states to introduce legislation covering the assessment and restriction of air crew exposure to cosmic radiation. In the UK the Civil Aviation Authority, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions issued guidelines suggesting the use of a predictive code such as CARI for this purpose. In order to validate the use of calculated route doses, an extensive programme of measurements is being carried out in conjunction with Virgin Atlantic Airways, using a prototype HAWK TEPC developed by Far West Technology. This programme began in January 2000 and by the end of February 2001 had resulted in the accumulation of data from 74 flights. In this paper the instrument design is discussed, together with the calibration program. An overview of the in-flight results is also presented, including comparisons between measurements and calculations, which indicates that CARI under-predicts the route doses by approximately 20%.
ISSN:0144-8420
1742-3406
DOI:10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a006827