Dosimetry of mixed neutron and gamma radiation with paired Fricke solutions in light and heavy water.

Paired Fricke solutions, made up from light water or heavy water and 0.8N in H2SO4 and 1 mM in Fe(NH4)2(SO4)2 and NaCl, were calibrated with 60Co gamma rays and with mixed neutron and gamma radiation from a 252Cf source. Absorbance increases, AL and AH, in light- and heavy-water Fricke dosimeters, respectively, increased with fast-neutron and gamma-ray tissue doses, Dn (GY) and D gamma (GY), of the mixed radiation as follows: AL = 0.00178Dn + 0.00371D gamma; AH = 0.00121Dn + 0.00442 D gamma. G-values of 7.2 and 5.5 were obtained for 252Cf neutrons in light- and heavy-water Fricke dosimeters, respectively. When we applied the pair of equations to AL and AH values observed after exposure to mixed radiation in a nuclear reactor, resulting Dn and D gamma values agreed within 10% to doses measured with paired ionization chambers. Doses required for Fricke dosimeters were 5 Gy or more. In contrast, we found that micronuclear yields in onion roots can measure the neutron component of mixed radiation fields at the order of 10 cGy with reasonable accuracy even if the neutron to gamma-ray dose ratio is unknown.