PERFORMANCE TEST RESULTS OF ACTIVE PERSONAL DOSEMETERS (APDS) USED IN NUCLAER POWER PLANT IN KOREA: A COMPARISON WITH THERMO-LUMINESCENCE DOSEMETERS (TLDs).

In Korea, radiation workers must wear personal dosemeters when they enter radiation-controlled areas. For the purpose of daily or job-related exposure control, a supplemental dosemeter, such as an active personal dosemeter (APD), is used in addition to the thermo-luminescence dosemeter (TLD) checked once a month for official records. However, with the development of improved multi-detector, APDs, it has become possible to consider using these devices in the manner in which passive dosemeters are used. Thus, a comparison was done by means of a performance test according to the legal dosimetric performance criteria for official dosemeters to confirm the possibility of using an APD as an official dosemeter. In the comparison of the TLD performance capabilities, the tested APDs, with the exception of three models, satisfied the test standards. Therefore, APDs may be used as legal dosemeters in place of TLDs. However, if personal dose evaluations are based only on APD readings, further consideration is needed (e.g. malfunctions, battery lifetimes and applications of correction factors and calibration methods).