OCCUPATIONAL DOSE OF OPERATORS OF NUCLEAR MOISTURE DENSITY GAUGES USED IN PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION IN SAUDI ARABIA USING THERMOLUMINESCENT DOSEMETERS

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study was to estimate the radiation effective doses for operators of nuclear moisture density gauges that are used in pavement construction in the road industry in Saudi Arabia from 2016 to 2019. The effective doses of 278 workers were estimated using thermoluminescent dosemeters (TLD-700). The analysis of the dosimetry data revealed that the mean annual effective dose for all workers averaged over the study period was 0.80 mSv, which falls below the recommended dose limits. About 68% of the pavement construction workers received annual effective doses of <1 mSv. All annual effective doses were below the recommended dose limits. While the annual effective mean dose of pavement construction workers in Saudi Arabia is not high, radiation protection in the country still needs to be further improved to protect such workers and to keep their annual radiation dose as low as reasonably achievable.