Dosimetry methods used in the studies of the effects of protons on primates: a review.

In a program to determine the acute and long-term effects of the space radiation environment, a series of primate irradiations was conducted from 1964 through 1969 by the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine. The animals were exposed total-body to protons, electrons, and X rays. The doses assigned were either body midline or body entrance geometrically averaged across the exposure field depending on the degree of penetration (total or partial body) of the radiation used. A 10-cm-diameter unit-density cylinder was used as an appropriate model for the animal in the determination of the body doses. The physical dosimetry methods used at the time of the irradiations are reviewed.