Shielding design of a treatment room for an accelerator-based epithermal neutron irradiation facility for BNCT

Journal Article · Fri Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1996 · Health Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1097/00004032-199611000-00008· OSTI ID:416462

Evans, J F; Blue, T E ^[1]

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1. Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

Protecting the facility personnel and the general public from radiation exposure is a primary safety concern of an accelerator-based epithermal neutron irradiation facility. This work makes an attempt at answering the questions {open_quotes}How much?{close_quotes} and {open_quotes}What kind?{close_quotes} of shielding will meet the occupational limits of such a facility. Shielding effectiveness is compared for ordinary and barytes concretes in combination with and without borated polyethylene. A calculational model was developed of a treatment room, patient {open_quotes}scatterer,{close_quotes} and the epithermal neutron beam. The Monte Carlo code, MCNP, was used to compute the total effective dose equivalent rates at specific points of interest outside of the treatment room. A conservative occupational effective dose rate limit of 0.01 mSv h{sup {minus}1} was the guideline for this study. Conservative Monte Carlo calculations show that constructing the treatment room walls with 1.5 m of ordinary concrete, 1.2 m of barytes concrete, 1.0 m of ordinary concrete preceded by 10 cm of 5% boron-polyethylene, or 0.8 m of barytes concrete preceded by 10 cm of 5% boron-polyethylene will adequately protect facility personnel. 20 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 416462
• Journal Information: Health Physics, Journal Name: Health Physics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 71; ISSN HLTPAO; ISSN 0017-9078
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
66 PHYSICS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
BORON
CONCRETES
DESIGN
EPITHERMAL NEUTRONS
M CODES
MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENTS
NEUTRON CAPTURE THERAPY
NEUTRON SOURCE FACILITIES
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
PERSONNEL
SHIELDING