Radiation exposure monitoring in civil aircraft

Based on the 1990 Recommendation of the ICRP (ICRP Publication 60, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1991) a European Directive [Official J. Eur. Communities 19 (1996) L159, 1–114] commits the European Union (EU) member states to revise their national radiation protection laws by the year 2000 such that the exposure of aircrews to the increased cosmic radiation prevailing at aviation flight altitudes will be treated as occupational risks. A consequence will be that employers must assess the aircrew exposure. The ACREM (Air Crew Radiation Exposure Monitoring) research project intends to investigate practically methods for aircraft dose equivalent determination. The in-flight measurements were carried out on cargo aircraft. Field calibrations were performed using Tissue-Equivalent Proportional Counters (TEPC) as the reference instrument. Various monitors were used to investigate the spatial doserate distribution. The measured data were collated according to the different altitudes and geomagnetic latitudes. The results obtained from various in-flight measurements are reported and a concept for a future routine dose assessment for aircrew is proposed.