Development of an effective dose calculation method for the downstairs room of a linac facility

ABSTRACT

An effective dose calculation method is important in the design of efficient shields in radiation facilities. Some analytical methods have been shown to provide a simple and quick design analysis; however, no suitable method exists that can be applied to a room located directly under an X-ray irradiation room. We propose a new analytical method that uses the multiple reflection ratio predetermined by a Monte Carlo simulation and the differential dose albedo given by the Chilton–Huddleston semi-empirical equation. Our method is verified by comparison with the Monte Carlo simulation, performed for the case of an electron linac facility with an accelerated energy of 10 MeV, where the shielding floor has a thickness of 1.6–2.0 m and the downstairs room has a height of 0.5–1.5 m. The difference between the effective X-ray doses in the downstairs room calculated via the proposed analytical method and the Monte Carlo simulation is less than 25% when the horizontal distance from the X-ray beam to the evaluation point exceeds 3 m and the evaluation point is set at half of the height of the room. The new analytical method can be efficiently and accurately applied to the calculation of the effective dose.