AIR KERMA RATE CALIBRATION OF SMALL SOURCES OF CO-60, CS-137, RA-226 AND IR-192

The traceability routes for the calibration of brachytherapy sources supplied by Amersham International plc were recently summarized (Rossiter 1990) following continued interest in this topic by users. Such calibrations have depended on an ionometric comparison of the source output with one of a set of 60Co reference sources. These reference sources have been calibrated for the measurement of brachytherapy sources by ionometric comparison, first with each other, then with an Amersham International 226Ra reference source which itself had been calibrated at NPL by comparison with the British National Radium Standard. The air kerma rate (formerly exposure rate) at 1 m distance from each 60Co reference source was then calculated using the ionometric ratios, the widely accepted exposure rate constant for 226Ra and other minor corrections. The measurements have been extended to the important brachytherapy radionuclide 192Ir. The results indicate a level of agreement between NPL and Amersham source output measurements which is within the NPL measurement uncertainties alone.