The use of commercial glass as a potential gamma accidental dosimeter through the absorption spectra

Various types of commercial glass (ordinary windows, cathode ray tubes, glass kitchenware) have been studied as potential accidental radiation dosimeters. The proposed method utilizes the changes in the glasses’ absorption spectra as a result of irradiation.A 60Co gamma irradiation cell has been used to irradiate samples with doses ranging from 5 to 200 Gy. The transmittance was measured using a photospectrometer (UV–visible spectrometry).The results demonstrate that the transmittance spectra of most of the glass samples change in linear proportion to the exposure dose. Moreover, the study considers the fading effect on the absorption spectra of the irradiated samples for fading times up to 100 days at room temperature.The results of this work demonstrate that several widely used types of glass can be used as high-dose accidental dosimeters for doses ranging between 8 and 200 Gy. A reasonable calibration line can be established for any irradiated glass sample by heating, re-irradiating with standard doses and measuring the related absorption coefficient.Further investigations are needed to decrease the minimum detectable dose of the proposed method and to study the effect of glass composition on radiation response.