Neutron detection on the Foton-M2 satellite by a track etch detector stack.

In the frame of a European Space Agency (ESA) project called 'Biology and Physics in Space', a returning satellite, Foton-M2, was orbiting a container, the BIOPAN-5, loaded with biological experiments and facilities for radiation dosimetry (RADO) in the open space. One of the RADO experiments was dedicated to the detection of the primary cosmic rays and secondary neutrons by a track etch detector stack. The system was calibrated at high-energy particle accelerators and neutron generators. The developed detectors were investigated by an image analyser, and from the track parameters the linear energy transfer spectra and the absorbed dose were determined (26 microGy/d). Also, the neutron flux was estimated below 5 MeV and found to be 2.4 cm(-2) s(-1) directly from the space. The construction of the stack allowed to investigate the neutrons also from the direction of the carrying satellite, where the flux was found somewhat higher.

Detection of primary and secondary cosmic ray particles aboard the ISS using SSNTD stacks.

To study the radiation environment inside the International Space Station, solid state nuclear track detector stacks were used. Within the BRADOS experiments, Phase 1, seven stacks were exposed at different locations of the Russian segment 'Zvezda' for 248 days in 2001. It was supposed that the radiation field inside the ISS was composed from primary cosmic ray particles penetrating the wall of the ISS and secondaries, mainly neutrons induced by primaries in the wall and other structural materials surrounding the detectors. Based on the calibration made by utilising the high energy neutron reference field CERF at CERN (Geneva, Switzerland), the tracks induced by neutrons were separated from those induced by primary particles. Thus, the stacks, on one hand, provided the secondary neutron ambient dose equivalent. On the other hand, from the analysis of the rest of the tracks, the linear energy transfer spectra were computed and the flux and the dose of the primary particles were determined as shown in this paper.

Evaluation of solid state nuclear track detector stacks exposed on the international space station.

The aim of the study was to investigate the contribution of secondary neutrons to the total dose inside the International Space Station (ISS). For this purpose solid-state nuclear track detector (SSNTD) stacks were used. Each stack consisted of three CR-39 sheets. The first and second sheets were separated by a Ti plate, and the second and third sheets sandwiched a Lexan polycarbonate foil. The neutron and proton responses of each sheet were studied through MC calculations and experimentally, utilising monoenergetic protons. Seven stacks were exposed in 2001 for 249 days at different locations of the Russian segment 'Zvezda'. The total storage time before and after the exposure onboard was estimated to be seven months. Another eight stacks were exposed at the CERF high-energy neutron field for calibration purposes. The CR-39 detectors were evaluated in four steps: after 2, 6, 12 and 20 h etching in 6 N NaOH at 70 degrees C (VB = 1.34 microm h(-1)). All the individual tracks were investigated and recorded using an image analyser. The stacks provided the averaged neutron ambient dose equivalent (H*) between 200 keV and 20 MeV, and the values varied from 39 to 73 microSv d(-1), depending on the location. The Lexan detectors were used to detect the dose originating from high-charge and high-energy (HZE) particles. These results will be published elsewhere.

Etched track detectors and the low dose problem.

The risk to human health of exposure to low-level radiation is not precisely known yet. One way of studying this is to carry out in vitro biological experiments with cell cultures and to extend the conclusions to biological models. To relate the macroscopically deteminable 'low dose' to the damage of cells caused by a certain type of ionising particle is nearly impossible. therefore the number of hits and the imparted energy are the significant quantities. They can be estimated by particle transport calculations and by direct measurements. The effect of low dose was investigated in radio-adaptation experiments when mono-layers of different unsynchronised cell cultures were irradiated by neutrons produced in the filtered beam of the Budapest Research Reactor (BRR). The energy deposition was investigated by replacing the mono-layers with etched track detectors of the CR-39 type.

In vitro cell irradiation systems based on 210Po alpha source: construction and characterisation.

One way of studying the risk to human health of low-level radiation exposure is to make biological experiments on living cell cultures. Two 210Po alpha-particle emitting devices, with 0.5 and 100 MBq activity, were designed and constructed to perform such experiments irradiating monolayers of cells. Estimates of dose rate at the cell surface were obtained from measurements by a PIPS alpha-particle spectrometer and from calculations by the SRIM 2000, Monte Carlo charged particle transport code. Particle fluence area distributions were measured by solid state nuclear track detectors. The design and dosimetric characterisation of the devices are discussed.

Depth-dose distribution measurements and calculations in an elliptical phantom.

Calculations and measurements are presented for the dose distribution in a water-filled elliptical phantom when the phantom was irradiated with neutrons from two different, unshielded light-water moderated reactors. The calculations were performed by a Monte Carlo code; for the measurements we used activation, TL and solid-state nuclear track detectors. We observed that the neutron spectra do not vary significantly inside the phantom and that not only the total absorbed dose but also the kerma value at a depth of approximately 2 cm can be higher than that on the front (in our case, by a factor of about 1.2). The measurements and calculations resulted in a kerma attenuation from the front to the back of the phantom a factor of about 5, less than was previously known through the literature.