Silicates collected from personal objects as a potential fortuitous dosimeter in radiological emergency

The use of silicates as thermoluminescent material is well known and ranges from the identification of irradiated food to the dose reconstruction using quartz extracted from bricks and tiles. Recently the possibility to collect silicates from the dust present on personal objects for individual dosimetry in case of radiation accident or radiological attack, was investigated for dose of 10 Gy. The aim of the present work was to investigate the possibility to detect dose levels below 10 Gy. To this extent objects supposed to contain high amount of silicates such as keys, coins and cigarette tobacco (Bortolin et al., 2010) were tested in the dose range 0.1–5.0 Gy. The TL signal was distinguishable from the geological signal in the whole range of dose. To simulate a realistic situation, laboratory irradiation was performed directly on the objects before silicates collection and TL analysis were carried out at two different time points, within a week. The glow curves registered 7 days after laboratory irradiation at 5 Gy showed an artificially radiation-induced TL signal well distinguishable from the natural background.