Absorbed dose conversion coefficients for embryo and foetus in neutron fields.

The Monte Carlo code MCNPX has been used to determine mean absorbed doses to the embryo and foetus when the mother is exposed to neutron fields. There are situations, such as on-board aircraft, where high-energy neutrons are often peaked in top down (TOP) direction. In addition to previous publications for standard irradiation geometries, this study provides absorbed dose conversion coefficients for the embryo of 8 weeks and the foetus of 3, 6 or 9 months at TOP irradiation geometry. The conversion coefficients are compared with the coefficients in isotropic irradiation (ISO). With increasing neutron energies, the conversion coefficients in TOP irradiation become dominant. A set of conversion coefficients is constructed from the higher value in either ISO or TOP irradiation at a given neutron energy. In cases where the irradiation geometry is not adequately known, this set of conversion coefficients can be used in a conservative dose assessment for embryo and foetus in neutron fields.