Experimental Verification and Calculation of Aviation Route Doses

Schraube, H.; Mares, V.; Roesler, S.; Heinrich, W.

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a032963

Cited by 50 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…There have been many studies of cosmic radiation dose rates both in Concorde and subsonic aircraft (1,2,4,18,22,28,32,33,42,(47)(48)(49)(50)(51), all giving similar results. European airlines have been required to monitor and record occupational exposure since May 2000 to comply with the European Directive.…”

Section: Cosmic Radiation Doses Receivedmentioning

confidence: 82%

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Cosmic radiation in commercial aviation

Bagshaw

2008

Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease

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This paper reviews the current knowledge of cosmic radiation and its applicability to commercial aviation. Galactic cosmic radiation emanates from outside the solar system, while occasionally a disturbance in the sun's atmosphere leads to a surge in radiation particles. Protection is provided by the sun's magnetic field, the earth's magnetic field, and the earth's atmosphere. Dose rates are dependent on the altitude, the geomagnetic latitude and the solar cycle. For occupational exposure to ionising radiation, which includes aircrew, the International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends maximum mean body effective dose limits of 20 mSv per year (averaged over 5 years, with a maximum in any one year of 50 mSv). Radiation doses can be measured during flight or may be calculated using a computermodelling program such as CARI, EPCARD, SIEVERT or PCAIRE. Mean ambient equivalent dose rates are in the region of 4 -5 µSv per hour for long-haul pilots and 1 -3 µSv per hour for short-haul, giving an annual mean effective exposure of the order 2 -3 mSv for long-haul and 1 -2 mSv for short-haul pilots. Epidemiological studies of flight crew have not shown any increase in cancer mortality or cancer incidence that could be directly attributable to ionising radiation exposure. Whilst it is accepted that there is no level of radiation exposure below which effects do not occur, all the current evidence indicates that the probability of airline crew or passengers suffering any abnormality or disease as a result of exposure to cosmic radiation is very low.Keywords: Galactic cosmic radiation, solar flare, coronal mass ejection, ground level enhancement (GLE), International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), dose rate effectiveness (DREF), linear energy transfer (LET), relative biological effectiveness (RBE), quality factor (QF), chromosome aberrations, CARI, EPCARD, SIEVERT, PCAIRE. IntroductionThe planet earth is continuously bathed in high-energy ionising radiation known as galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), emanating from outside the solar system, and sporadically exposed to bursts of energetic particles from the sun referred to as solar particle events (SPEs).The main source of GCR is believed to be supernovae (exploding stars), while occasionally a disturbance in the sun's atmosphere (solar flare or coronal mass ejection) leads to a surge of radiation particles with sufficient energy to penetrate the earth's magnetic field and enter the atmosphere. Ionising RadiationIonising radiation refers to subatomic particles that, on interacting with an atom, can directly or indirectly cause the atom to lose an electron or even break apart its nucleus. It is when these events occur in body tissue that health effects may result if the human body's self-repair mechanism fails.Ionising radiation is a normal part of the environment. It is emitted in all normal human tissue cells, and emanates from the ground and some building materials. It is used as a medical diagnostic and treatment tool, and is received from GCR. 2Io...

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Section: Cosmic Radiation Doses Receivedmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Another package, EPCARD, has been developed on behalf of the European Commission (48). This is based on the FLUKA transport code (44) and again is limited to the galactic cosmic ray component, which is isotropic and of constant spectrum outside of the heliosphere.…”

Section: Measurement Of Cosmic Radiation Dosesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cosmic radiation in commercial aviation

Bagshaw

2008

Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease

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“…Two different types of neutron detectors (BTI bubble counters and a BF3 counter detectors) were used to measure the neutron flux at Chacaltaya, during the first instal- [42,43]. Neutrons of these energies interacting inside the detectors could induce background tracks, and their density could affect the scanning speed and efficiency.…”

Section: Environmental Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic monopole search at high altitude with the SLIM experiment

et al. 2008

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“…Several calculation codes, e.g. EPCARD [24], CARI-6 [25] and PCAIRE [26], have already been developed in order to estimate the aircrew dose. These codes can calculate route-doses-the dose en route between two airports-by specifying the flight conditions such as departure and destination airports.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%