Wearable neutron dosimeter

DOIN

DOIN is a type of dosimeter that, when worn, allows real-time monitoring of exposure to a specific type of ionizing particle: neutrons.

Its application could significantly reduce the risk of overexposure for workers in the nuclear, civil, oil and medical industries. Precisely where exposure to this type of particles constitutes a high occupational risk.

How does it work?

The developed dosimeter is a neutron detector, lightweight and small in size, making it easy to wear.

The aim is to optimize the practices adopted in radioprotection for the immediate identification of high-risk situations. n fact, the dosimeter has been designed to provide real-time indication of the dose absorbed by the person wearing it, unlike current technologies, which store information for long periods – a month or more – and quantify it only later.

The innovative design used for its components makes it possible to obtain reliable measurements over a wide range of energies, from thermal neutrons (fractions of eV) to hundreds of MeV, unlike devices currently used that could be inaccurate due to the extreme variability of the energy of the particles to be detected.

Applications

The technology is widely used in radiation protection in:

• Nuclear, oil, civil industry
• Particle accelerator-hosting facilities such as hospitals, healthcare companies and research laboratories
• Nuclear waste treatment

Advantages

• It is compact and can be worn by the worker
• It allows real-time monitoring of radiation exposure
• Measurements are more accurate than those obtained with the devices in use
• It complies with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) specifications