A one-shot imaging system for neutron track counting

The Individual Monitoring Service of ENEA Radiation Protection Institute supplies thousands of dosemeters for fast neutron dosimetry per year to a series of national laboratories and hospitals. A PADC (poly allyl diglycol carbonate) sheet is used to detect neutron tracks through a chemical etching process. A track reader has been developed with the main idea of employing a CCD camera to get one-shot image acquisition of the etched dosemeter for the track counting. The digital image, that can be visually inspected on the video by the operator during the acquisition, is analyzed through a Labview program, that controls all the phases of the procedure and produces a report containing the evaluated doses and the results of the basic image quality analysis performed. The developed system showed a good reproducibility and stability and its accuracy was judged adequate for our radiation monitoring needs.