5 Practical Consequences of the Introduction of the Recommended Operational Quantities

Abstract

The first two criteria are fulfilled by the definitions of the recommended quantities. The last criterion seems trivial but requires the availability of suitable instruments. The introduction of the recommended operational quantities for external radiation will have consequences for practical radiation protection. A comparison of the energy and angle dependence of the recommended fluence-to-dose, and kerma-todose, conversion coefficients with respect to those of the ICRU Report 39/51 operational quantities has been given in Subsection 4.4. Personal dosimeters and area monitoring instruments with a sensitivity reproducing exactly the energy and angle dependence of the ICRU Report 39/51 quantities would have had responses relative to what is needed for the recommended operational quantities equal to the ratios shown, and, therefore, generally, not be suitable to assess exactly the recommended operational quantities in this Report, except over limited energy ranges. In this section, an overview is given of the expected changes to radiation protection instrumentation and to their calibration to assess correctly the recommended quantities. For prospective radiation protection estimates with Monte Carlo programs, no difficulties are expected once the recommended conversion coefficients are introduced into the codes.