THE USE OF CERAMICS FOR RETROSPECTIVE DOSIMETRY IN THE CHERNOBYL EXCLUSION ZONE

The use of luminescence techniques with ceramic materials is playing an increasingly important role in retrospective dosimetry. Thermoluminescence measurements with ceramics at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and in areas downwind of the Nevada Test Site have shown that dose estimates may be obtained which are of value in comparisons with the results of modelling calculations. The Chernobyl accident has provided a recent example where retrospective dosimetry is urgently required in order to advance epidemiological studies of the population. This paper examines some of the approaches which are being used with luminescence techniques to provide dose estimates for samples from Pripyat and how they can be used to contribute to the wider problem of dose reconstruction in the 30 km Exclusion Zone.