A re-evaluation of the BIPM standard for air kerma in 60 Co radiation has been made. The changes to the air-kerma rate determination arise from four sources: (i) the results of Monte Carlo calculations of correction factors for the standard; (ii) a re-evaluation of the correction factor for saturation; (iii) a new evaluation of the air volume of the standard using an experimental chamber of variable volume; (iv) the adoption of a new reference beam at the BIPM. The combined effect of these changes is an increase in the BIPM determination of air-kerma rate by the factor 1.0054 and a reduction of the relative standard uncertainty of this determination to 1.

A graphite-walled cavity ionization chamber of modular design and variable volume has been used to determine the air-kerma rate in the reference 60Co field at the BIPM. The chamber can be configured in five sizes. High-accuracy mechanical measurements of the volume of the air cavity were made for each configuration using a co-ordinate measuring machine. Ionization current measurements were made for each configuration and corrected for the effects of ion recombination and diffusion, stem scatter and chamber orientation. Monte Carlo calculations of cavity dose were made to evaluate the correction factors kwall and kan. A reproducibility of the ionization current per mass of 1.5 parts in 10(4) was achieved on the repeated assembly of each configuration. The results show an air-kerma rate determination that increases with volume, the total change being around 8 parts in 10(4). When analysed differentially, the air-kerma rate relative to the BIPM standard is Kdiff/KBIPM = 1.0026(6). A detailed uncertainty budget is presented. Possible reasons for the observed behaviour are discussed that might have consequences for all existing standards for air-kerma.

The BIPM graphite calorimeter standard for absorbed dose to water has been used in conjunction with an ionization chamber of known volume and with Monte Carlo simulations of these arrangements to determine the value for Wair in (60)Co radiation and in accelerator photon beams up to 25 MV. The results show no evidence for a variation in Wair at the 0.2% level over this energy range. Taking the constancy of Wair as established, the best estimate is Wair = 34.03 eV with a standard uncertainty of 0.21%. Consistent with this analysis, and assuming the use of the grain density in evaluating the stopping power of graphite, is the value Ic = 81.1 eV for the mean excitation energy for graphite, with standard uncertainty 1.8 eV.

A re-evaluation of the BIPM standards for air kerma in low- and medium-energy x-rays has been made. The changes to the air-kerma rate determination arise from three sources: (i) the results of Monte Carlo calculations of diaphragm correction factors for the standards, (ii) a measurement of the effect of scatter from the diaphragm support and (iii) a re-evaluation of the electron-loss corrections for the medium-energy standard. Scatter from the diaphragm support explains a long-standing trend observed in the results of international comparisons for medium-energy x-rays. The new standards were implemented on 1 September 2009.

At present, only a correction factor for photon transmission, k(l), is systematically applied for the entrance diaphragm of free-air chamber standards for air kerma. In the present work, the Monte Carlo code PENELOPE is used to re-evaluate k(l) for the BIPM standards and new correction factors are calculated for photon scatter and for fluorescence production in the diaphragm. An additional effect arising from electrons emitted from the diaphragm is shown to be significant at the highest photon energies. The results for the radiation qualities used for international comparisons give a combined diaphragm correction factor k(dia) = 0.9980(3) for the BIPM medium-energy standard at 250 kV. This is significantly different from the factor k(l) = 0.9996(1) in use at present and it might be concluded that differences are likely to exist for all free-air chamber standards. The effect of using a conical taper at the downstream edge of the diaphragm is shown to be negligible for these radiation qualities.