Radiation Measurements by Chemical Methods

A technique, based on a variation of kinetic spectroscopy, is presented to measure radiation dose and dose rate from pulsed sources. The hydrated electron, produced by ionizing radiation in aqueous media, has an optical absorption in the visible region of the spectrum. This absorption is used to follow the radiation pulse. This method has the intrinsic advantages of extremely high speed, low cost, and minimal calibration. A chemical system is described that will allow the dose and dose rate monitoring cell to be used repeatedly. The method described covers the range from 100 rad to 10 krad at dose rates as high as 2 x 1012 rad s-1. Radiation pulses as short as 5ns have been resolved.