engleski

Cosmic Radiation Dose in the Aircraft

When primary particles from space, mainly protons, enter the atmosphere, they produce interactions with air nuclei, and cosmic-ray showers are induced. The radiation field at aircraft altitude is complex, with different types of particles, mainly photons, electrons, positrons and neutrons, with a large energy range. The non-neutron component of cosmic radiation dose aboard A 320 and ATR 42 aircraft was measured with TLD-100 (LiF:Mg, Ti) detectors and the Mini 6100 semiconductor dosimeter ; the neutron dose was measured with the neutron dosimeter consisted of LR-115 track detector and boron foil BN-1 or 10B converter. The estimated occupational effective dose for the aircraft crew (A320) working 500 h per year was 1.64 mSv. Another experiment was performed at the flights Zagreb – Paris – Buenos Aires and reversely, when one measured cosmic radiation dose ; for 26.7 h of flight, the MINI 6100 dosimeter gave an average dose rate of 2.3 mikroSv/h and the TLD dosimeter registered the total dose of 75 μ Sv or the average dose rate of 2.7 mikroSv/h ; the neutron dosimeter gave the dose rate of 2.4 mikroSv/h. In the same month, February 2005, a traveling to the Japan (24 hours-flight: Zagreb – Frankfurt - Tokyo and reversely) and the TLD-100 measurement showed the average dose rate of 2.4 mikroSv/h ; the neutron dosimeter gave the dose rate of 2.5 mikroSv/h. Comparing dose rates of the non- neutron component (low LET) and the neutron one (high LET) of the radiation field at the aircraft flight level, we could conclude the neutron component curried about 50% of the total dose, that was near other known data

cosmic radiation ; aircrew ; flight level ; dose rate

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