Various mixed neutron-photon fields at workplaccs in the containment of pressurised water reactors and in the vicinity of transport containers with spent fuel elements were investigated with spectrometers and dosimeters.The spectral neutron fluences evaluated from measurements with multisphere systems were recommended to be used for the calculation of dosimetric reference values for comparison with the readings of the dosemeters applied simultaneously.
It turned out that most of the moderator based area dosemeters overestimated, while the TEPC systems generally underestimated the ambient dose eqUivalent (DE) values of the rather soft neutron fields encountered at these workplaces. The discrepancies can, however, be explained on the basis of energy dependent responses of the instruments used. The ambient DE values obtained with recently developed area dosemeters based on superheated drop detectors and with track etch based personal dosemeters on phantoms, however, were in satisfying agreement with the reference data.
Sets of personal dosemeters simultaneously irradiated on a phantom allowed to roughly estimate the directional dependence of the neutron f1uencc. Hence, personal and limiting dose equivalent quantities could also be calculated. The personal and ambient DE values were always conservative estimates of the limiting quantities. Unexpectedly, discrepancies were observed for photon DE data measured with GM counters and TEPC systems. The up to 50 % higher readings of the GM counters may be explained by a considerable contribution of high energy photons to the total photon dose equivalent, but photon spectrometry is necessary for final clarification.