Medical Radiology and Radiation Safety. 2014. Vol. 59. No. 3. P. 52-58

RADIATION PHYSICS, TECHNOLOGY AND DOSIMETRY

V.Yu. Soloviev, T.M. Khamidulin

Voxel Phantom Technology in Accidental Dosimetry: Perspectives

Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Center of FMBA, Moscow, Russia. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Evaluate the possibility of using voxel-phantom technology combined with a set of dosimeters for the purposes of gamma-neutron radiation field accidental dosimetry

Material and methods: The object of research is the vital organs volume distribution over dose within the voxel phantom irradiated in the field of neutron and gamma-ray source with the emission spectrum of the fissile material.

Results: For a typical energy distribution of the field of fissile material gamma-neutron radiation the family of neutron and gamma-ray dose distributions inside the voxel phantom has been obtained. The calculations were done for four different orientations of the phantom relative to the point-type radiation source (front, back, left and right side), not taking into account the walls, ceiling and the floor of the hall, and for each one the amount of dose absorbed by dosimeter (on the surface of the chest area) was evaluated. The phantom was placed at a distance of 2.5 meters away from the radiation source. Using this data the characteristics of the vital organs mass distribution over the dose were estimated. It was shown that red bone marrow is affected most when phantom is irradiated from behind, and the least damage is caused by radiation from the left and right sides with the same distance to the radiation source. With the dosimeter located on the chest the bone marrow mass over dose distribution median is 5 times smaller than the dosimeter reading in case of frontal irradiation, and significantly larger than the dosimeter reading in case of irradiation from behind. For practical calculations the dimensions of the hall and all the elements of physical shielding must be taken into account.

Conclusion: The result of the study is development of computational and experimental complex for the emergency dosimetry, which consists of a computational module and a set of gamma and neutron radiation dosimeters. The resulting information gives physicians full amount of data about vital organs radiation damage severity and dose distribution throughout the body, necessary for choosing optimal treatment strategy and tactics immediately after reading the dosimeter.

Key words: voxel phantom, gamma-neutron irradiation, dose, red bone marrow, accident dosimetry