Quantities, units and dose limits for the Swedish Armed Forces at foreign missions

In this report FOI gives an overview of the changes in threat perception, tasks and view on radiation protection which have led to new radiation protection concepts and instrumentation in the Swedish Armed Forces. The quantities to be used are equivalent dose, effective dose, ambient dose equivalent and personal dose equivalent. These quantities are described in the report. The unit to be used is sievert (Sv) with appropriate prefixes. The Swedish armed forces' growing engagement in foreign operations has actualised the issue about which quantities and units are to be used in cooperation with NATO in which some countries uses gray (Gy). The dose-rate meter I-28 was obtained for the purpose of foreign duty and gives the unit Gy. The report concludes that it should be modified to give Sv. This conclusion is supported by relevant Stanagdocuments and by the fact that Swedish regulations are to be used for Swedish personnel on foreign missions. In an inquiry to some NATO- and Partnership for Peacemembers (PfP) most of them answered that they used sievert as the unit for their instruments. FOI then describes how the Swedish participation in PfP and the Planning and Review Process (PARP) as a consequence required that Swedish personnel had to wear personal direct reading dose meters when on foreign missions. The dose meter 61 has been obtained for this reason but the introduction of the system has suffered various difficulties. There is a trend in the Swedish armed forces to regard the dose meter purely as a sensor to alert on increasing dose rate, which according to the report would be unfortunate. It would be in opposition to the motive for obtaining the system and it is important to have an effective dose follow-up as a verification that the radiation protection is working properly. Finally FOI describes the dose limits given by regulations from the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM). These regulations are mandatory for Swedish personnel on foreign missions.