ABSTRACT
ICRU Report No. 43 is the second in a three-report series produced by ICRU to provide guidance on the practical determination of dose equivalents from external radiation sources. The first of the series, ICRU Report 39, Determination of Dose Equivalents from External Radiation Sources, provided definitions of quantities to be employed in radiological protection monitoring, including the ambient dose equivalent, the directional dose equivalent, the individual dose equivalent penetrating, and the individual dose equivalent superficial. ICRU Report 43 provides the grounds for the Commission’s selection of these quantities and the basis for their definition.
This Report includes extensive compilations of the physical data supporting the selection of the quantities defined in ICRU Report 39. Use has been made of various earlier studies and advantage has been taken of the extensive computer codes now available for spherical and anthropomorphic phantoms and various radiations. After an introduction providing information on the operational radiation protection quantities and the introduction of new dose equivalent quantities, the report assesses desirable properties of quantities used in radiological protection. To provide a physical basis for evaluation and selection of appropriate quantities, calculated and experimental data for anthropomorphic phantoms and the ICRU sphere are treated in a major section of the Report. Instrument characteristics and calibration are covered, including information on the performance of existing instruments and type testing and calibration of instruments for the recommended new quantities. A major section of the Report treats the relationships between quantities, including that between individual and environmental monitoring quantities, and the relationship between individual monitoring quantities and limiting quantities. Appendices to the Report provide a specification of the concepts and definitions used in the report, a collection of the physical data for photons, neutrons, beta rays and other electrons, and an exposition of the rationale for the choice of monitoring quantities.