The effects of a revised operational dose quantity on the response characteristics of neutron survey instruments.

The ICRU is considering revising the definition of ambient dose equivalent. This paper investigates the impacts of the proposed change on four designs of neutron survey instrument, the GNU, HSREM, LB6411 and Studsvik 2202D, in terms of their respective energy dependences of response and their performances in realistic workplace fields. In some circumstances the current designs of instrument still produce acceptable characteristics, but in general they may need to be re-optimized to better match the requirements of the new operational quantity; to that end, a simple retrofit solution for the GNU is demonstrated. The performance criteria against which instruments are judged may also need to be revised to reflect the proposed change.