Article

Evaluation of the radiological risk in cargo scanning by comparison with known biological consequences

¹ Nuclear Engineering Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
² Faculty Bezerra de Araújo (FABA), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
³ Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Piauí (IFPI), Teresina, Brazil
⁴ Institute for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (IDQBRN), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
⁵ Defense Engineering Graduate Program, Military Institute of Engineering (IME), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
⁶ Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP), School of Economics, São Paulo, Brazil

^* Corresponding author: fisica.dna@gmail.com

Received: 19 August 2021
Accepted: 24 December 2021

Abstract

This study proposes a quick, easy, and low-cost method that can be used to assess the radiological safety of an irradiation line used for cargo and container inspection facilities. The radiation-emitting equipment used was a Smiths Heimam particle accelerator model HCVP4029 operating at 4.5 MeV. The radiation dose measurements were performed using a personal radiation monitor Ultra Radac mod MRAD 111 (Geiger–Muller). The ambient equivalent dose H*(10) was estimated for two facilities: A (real) (1.12E-03 mSv per scan) and B (fictitious) (3.25E-03 mSv per scan). The dimensionless factor R, which represents a ratio between two specific scanning (Ss) quantities regarding the facilities A and B, is introduced as a reference for assessing the level of radiological safety. This study compares facilities A and B by using a simple alternative safety assessment based on the R factor. The dimensionless R-value appears to be able to facilitate both the personnel’s and the general public’s perception of risk levels, even with no fixed scale.