WHY NOT TO TRUST A NEUTRON REMMETER

The shortcomings of neutron remmeters have been well documented by various research laboratories and discussed by the ICRU. Nonetheless, due to a forced reliance on them at the operational level there is frequently an undue confidence in them. This paper reviews the concept of dose equivalent index and how accurately neutron remmeters measure this quantity. It is shown that both instrumental and conceptual shortcomings of mean remmeters can overestimate the dose equivalent index by up to a factor of 15 in the worst case, and up to a factor of 3 or 4 in situations which are not unusual.