Portable Helios Reader for an Unknown Dose Recovery Procedures From KCl Dietary Supplements Using the Luminescence Method

Abstract

During unexpected accidents involving ionizing radiation, quick assessments of doses to public exposed to hazard conditions are crucial. For this purpose, selected household materials can be used as radiation detectors by combining them with a portable reading device. Potassium dietary supplements based on potassium chloride in combination with a portable luminescence reader can be a promising dosimetry tool in such emergency situations. In the paper, results of unknown dose reconstruction based on tablets and pills with granules using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) method are presented. Some OSL properties were examined: reproducibility of OSL as standard deviation of the OSL or sensitization of samples. Reconstructed doses were compared with dose delivered to BeO detectors. The results obtained for tablets were similar to BeO doses, while pill doses were differential, up to 37%. Overall reconstructed doses were on the same order of magnitude as BeO ones. The measurements were conducted using portable Helios reader due to its ability to measure samples of various shapes and sizes, which is not possible in other OSL reader. The development of mobile readers for emergency use is important because they enable rapid dose assessment on-site without the need for lengthy and expensive laboratory procedures.