Reference dosimetry measurements for the international intercomparison of criticality accident dosimetry SILENE 9-21 June 2002

An international intercomparison of criticality accident dosimetry systems took place in the SILENE reactor, in June 2002. Participants from 60 laboratories irradiated their dosemeters (physical and biological) using two different configurations of the reactor. In preparation for this intercomparison, the leakage radiation fields were characterised by spectrometry and dosimetry measurements using the ROSPEC spectrometer associated with a NE-213 scintillator, ionisation chambers, GM counters, diodes and thermoluminescence dosemeters (TLDs). For this intercomparison, a large area was required to irradiate the dosemeters both in free air and on phantoms. Therefore, measurements of the uniformity of the field were performed with activation detectors and TLDs for neutron and gammas, respectively. This paper describes the procedures used and the results obtained.