The Effect of the Size of Radiotherapy Photon Beams on the Absorbed Dose to an Al_2O_3 Dosimeter

The effect of the size of radiotherapy photon beams on the absorbed dose to an Al2O3 dosimeter was investigated using the Monte Carlo method. The EGSnrc/DOSRZnrc program code was used to simulate the absorbed dose to the Al2O3 dosimeter, as well as the absorbed dose to water at the corresponding position in the absence of the dosimeter. The incident beams were 60Co γ and 6 MV with a different beam radius ranging from 0.1 cm to 2 cm. Results revealed that the absorbed dose ratio factor depends on the size of the incident photon beam. When the radius of the incident beam is smaller than that of the dosimeter, the absorbed dose ratio factor decreases as the incident beam size increases. The absorbed dose ratio factor reaches its minimum when the radius of the incident beam is almost the same as that of the dosimeter. When the radius of the incident beam is larger than that of the dosimeter, the absorbed dose ratio factor increases as the incident beam size increases. The maximum difference among these absorbed dose ratio factors can be up to 14% in 60Co γ beams and 23% in 6 MV beams. However, when the size of the incident beam is much larger than that of the dosimeter, the effect of the incident beam size on the absorbed dose ratio factor becomes quite small. The maximum discrepancy between the absorbed dose ratio factors and the average value is not more than 1%.

International Recommendations on Calculation of Absorbed Dose in Biota:A Comprehensive Revue

Since the early times, radioprotection has been focused on the human being. Currently this approach has changed, being now also necessary to take care of the protection of the environment from unwanted effects of ionizing radiation. To this end, several institutions (UNSCEAR, ICRP, IAEA, DOE, ACRP) and consortia of institutions (FASSET, ERICA) have established procedures in order to protect the biota of such effects. Developed procedures are based on the calculation of the absorbed dose in biota (ICRP, DOE, IAEA), or on environmental risk assessment―ERA (DOE, ACRP, FASSET, ERICA);but even in this latter approach the parameters used are related to the absorbed doses in biota. The calculation of dose is the standard procedure in human radioprotection, and this points such an approach as the most interesting for providing a convergence between human and nonhuman (= biota) radioprotections. On the other hand, the ERA approach is easier to apply, because this methodology is used in several countries for non-radioactive contamination assessments. Since the world radioprotection system follows a number of institutions (UNSCEAR, ICRP, IAEA and regulatory institutions of member countries) that use dose calculation, this appears to be the way for biota radioprotection. We here review and comment the evolution of the concepts and approaches of the recommendations for radioprotection of non-human biota.

Influence of thyroid volume reduction on absorbed dose in ^(131)I therapy studied by using Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation

A simulation study has been performed to quantify the effect of volume reduction on the thyroid absorbed dose per decay and to investigate the variation of energy deposition per decay due to β- and γ-activity of 131I with volume/mass of thyroid, for water, ICRP- and ICRU-soft tissue taken as thyroid material. A Monte Carlo model of the thyroid, in the Geant4 radiation transport simulation toolkit was constructed to compute the β- and γ-absorbed dose in the simulated thyroid phantom for various values of its volume. The effect of the size and shape of the thyroid on energy deposition per decay has also been studied by using spherical, ellipsoidal and cylindrical models for the thyroid and varying its volume in 1-25 cm3 range. The relative differences of Geant4 results for different models with each other and MCNP results lie well below 1.870%. The maximum relative difference among the Geant4 estimated results for water with ICRP and ICRU soft tissues is not more than 0.225%. S-values for ellipsoidal, spherical and cylindrical thyroid models were estimated and the relative difference with published results lies within 3.095%. The absorbed fraction values for beta particles show a good agreement with published values within 2.105% deviation. The Geant4 based simulation results of absorbed fractions for gammas again show a good agreement with the corresponding MCNP and EGS4 results （±6.667%） but have 29.032% higher values than that of MIRD calculated values. Consistent with previous studies, the reduction of the thyroid volume is found to have a substantial effect on the absorbed dose. Geant4 simulations confirm dose dependence on the volume/mass of thyroid in agreement with MCNP and EGS4 computed values but are substantially different from MIRD8 data. Therefore, inclusion of size/mass dependence is indicated for 131I radiotherapy of the thyroid.

Absorbed dose estimations of ^(131)I for critical organs using the GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation code

The aim of this study is to compare the absorbed doses of critical organs of 131I using the MIRD （Medical Internal Radiation Dose） with the corresponding predictions made by GEANT4 simulations. S- values （mean absorbed dose rate per unit activity） and energy deposition per decay for critical organs of 131I for various ages, using standard cylindrical phantom comprising water and ICRP soft-tissue material, have also been estimated. In this study the effect of volume reduction of thyroid, during radiation therapy, on the calculation of absorbed dose is also being estimated using GEANT4. Photon specific energy deposition in the other organs of the neck, due to 131I decay in the thyroid organ, has also been estimated. The maximum relative difference of MIRD with the GEANT4 simulated results is 5.64% for an adult＇s critical organs of 131I. Excellent agreement was found between the results of water and ICRP soft tissue using the cylindrical model. S-values are tabulated for critical organs of 131I, using 1, 5, 10, 15 and 18 years （adults） individuals. S-values for a cylindrical thyroid of different sizes, having 3.07% relative differences of GEANT4 with Siegel ＆ Stabin results. Comparison of the experimentally measured values at 0.5 and 1 m away from neck of the ionization chamber with GEANT4 based Monte Carlo simulations results show good agreement. This study shows that GEANT4 code is an important tool for the internal dosimetry calculations.

Measurement of Radon Concentration and Estimation of Cancer Risk in Twenty-Four Model Houses in the Town of Koudougou

The objective of our study is to evaluate the concentration of radon (86Rn) inside houses in the town of Koudougou in order to estimate its impact on the health of the population. Indeed, when uranium-rich minerals are found near the surface of the ground, radon concentrations can reach tens of becquerels per cubic meter in enclosed spaces. Given the nature of the geological base of Burkina Faso, this situation is quite probable and certain places that are sometimes poorly ventilated (house, school, office, etc.) can have radon levels high enough to constitute a health problem for occupants. Thus, twenty-four (24) sample houses were identified. In each house, the Corentium digital detector was between 0.8 m and 2 m for at least one week in a place where the occupants estimate that they spend more time of time and measure the concentration of radon in the long term and short term. The recorded data allowed us to determine the Absorbed Dose and the Annual Effective Dose of radon gas for each house in order to estimate the Risk of Cancer and the probable Number of Cases of Lung Cancer per million inhabitants. Thus, the results indicate that the long-term radon concentration varies between 6 Bq/m3 and 285 Bq/m3 respectively in houses 11 and 4 compared to 1 Bq/m3 to 208 Bq/m3 in the short term in the same houses. Also, in the long term, in control houses 1, 3 and 4, the radon level is above the recommended threshold interval. For the short term, these are houses 1, 3, 4 and 17 respectively with 110 Bq/m3, 142 Bq/m3, 208 Bq/m3 and 105 Bq/m3. As for the long-term and short-term effective doses, only houses 1, 3, 4, 17 and 24 have values between 3 - 10 Sv/year. The estimation of the relative risk of lung cancer gives values relatively close to unity and between 1.006 and 1.142 with an average of 1.035 and that of the Number of Lung Cancer Cases per million inhabitants gives values between 8 and 166 with an average of 42. Thus, we can conclude that with the exception of houses 1, 3, 4 and 17, the radon concentrations are relatively low in the twenty-four control houses in the city of Koudougou. The lifestyle of the populations can well explain this situation when we know that people are in the habit of always leaving doors and windows open, especially when they are not sleeping. We can therefore say that the risk of population exposure to radon gas is relatively low in the town of Koudougou.

Radiation dose effects on the morphological development of M_(1) generation pea(Pisum sativum)

We irradiated pea seeds with neutrons from a ^(252)Cf source and studied the radiation dose effects on various morphological development parameters during the growth of M_(1) generation peas.We found that in the dose range of 0.51-9.27 Gy,with the increase in neutron-absorbed dose,the morphological development parameters of M_(1) generation peas at the initial seedling stage showed an obvious trend with three fluctuations.With the development of pea,this trend gradually weakened.Further analysis and verification showed that the main trend in the M_(1) generation of pea seeds was an inhibitory effect induced by neutron irradiation and there was a good linear correlation between the inhibitory effect and neutron absorption dose We successfully demonstrated the background removal of mutant plants and defined morphological developmen parameters for peas that match the overall development of plants.Our results will positively impact neutron mutation breeding and automatic agriculture.

Comparative Studies of Absolute Dose in Water Phantom, Solid Water Phantom and MatriXX with MULTICube Phantom

Introduction: Radiotherapy is one of the important treatment modalities in cancer treatment. To maintain the treatment procedure accuracy, the phantom is an essential tool for absolute dosimetry conformation and Quality Assurance routine cheek up. This work aims to study the absorbed dose of various phantoms and hence to make a comparison of the result with the IAEA recommendation (TRS 398) for daily QA of Linac. Materials and Methods: The experiment has been done at the Institute of Nuclear Medical Physics (INMP), AERE, Savar, Dhaka, under the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. For external beam radiation, 6 MV and 15 MV photon beams of Varian Clinac iX Linear Accelerator (Linac) were used. One dimensional (1D) water phantom, solid water phantom, and MatriXX with MULTICube phantom and associate accessories were used to experiment. Results: We have measured and compared the absorbed dose data of the phantoms. The variation of sold water phantom from the 1D water phantom is +2.8% at 6 MV and +3.5% at 15 MV. The variation MatriXX with MULTIcube phantom from the 1D water phantom is +8.0% at 6 MV and +3.2% at 15 MV. This study revealed that the 1D water phantom was the best absolute dose conformation among the other phantoms and the deviation was within the acceptable limit (±5%), except MatriXX with MULTICube Phantom for low energy beam (8%). Conclusion: It was observed that the accuracy of dose estimation was better in the 1D water phantom rather than the other two. It is also known that the 1D water phantom is low cost but needs a long time to set up for the experimental arrangement. Solid water or MatriXX with MULTICube phantom can be used to overcome this problem, which takes only a few minutes for setup and is comparatively faster than 1D water phantom.

Processing of Landsat 8 Imagery and Ground Gamma-Ray Spectrometry for Geologic Mapping and Dose-Rate Assessment, Wadi Diit along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt

Maximum Likelihood (MLH) supervised classification of atmospherically corrected Landsat 8 imagery was applied successfully for delineating main geologic units with a good accuracy (about 90%) according to reliable ground truth areas, which reflected the ability of remote sensing data in mapping poorly-accessed and remote regions such as playa (Sabkha) environs, subdued topography and sand dunes. Ground gamma-ray spectrometric survey was to delineate radioactive anomalies within Quaternary sediments at Wadi Diit. The mean absorbed dose rate (D), annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) and external hazard index (Hex) were found to be within the average worldwide ranges. Therefore, Wadi Diit environment is said to be radiological hazard safe except at the black-sand lens whose absorbed dose rate of 100.77 nGy/h exceeds the world average. So, the inhabitants will receive a relatively high radioactive dose generated mainly by monazite and zircon minerals from black-sand lens.

Evaluation of Radon Concentration and the Health Risk in the Offices of the Institute of Science and Technology of the “École Normale Supérieure”, Burkina Faso

The second most important cause of lung cancer after smoking is radon gas. Thus, the determination of indoor radon concentrations in residential buildings and workplaces is an important public health concern. The purpose of this research was to measure the concentration of radon gas in the offices of the Institute of Science and Technology and to evaluate the effective dose in the lungs and the risk of cancer. This study used Corentium’s AIR THINGS digital radon detector to determine the radon concentration in sixteen (16) offices. The digital radon detector air Things of Corentium was placed in each office for a minimum period of one week and the concentration values were recorded every 24 hours. The values recorded in each office were the short-term average and the long-term average during seven days of measurement. The short-term radon concentrations vary between 5.286 Bq/m3 and 192.714 Bq/m3 with an average of 48.01 Bq/m3 and those in the long-term were between 6.143 Bq/m3 and 172.571 Bq/m3 with an average of 52.46 Bq/m3. The measurements in office N°6 and 13 were above the lower limit of 100 Bq/m3 proposed by the WHO. The short-term and long-term effective doses in the lungs for offices N°6 and 13 were above the “normal” background level of 1.1 mSv/year proposed by UNSCEAR-2000. The short-term effective dose in the lungs for office N°6 was above the lower limit of 3 mSv per the ICRP-23 recommendation. The average number of lung cancer cases per year per million people was 15.

Studies of the radiation environment on the Mars surface using the Geant4 toolkit

The radiation environment on the surface of Mars is a potential threat for future manned exploration missions to this planet.In this study,a simple geometrical model was built for simulating the radiation environment on the Mars surface caused by galactic cosmic rays;the model was built and studied using the Geant4 toolkit.The simulation results were compared with the data reported by a radiation assessment detector(RAD).The simulated spectra of neutrons,photons,protons,α particles,and particle groups Z=3-5,Z=6-8,Z=9-13,and Z=14-24 were in a reasonable agreement with the RAD data.However,for deuterons,tritons,and 3He,the simulations yielded much smaller values than for the corresponding RAD data.In addition,the particles’spectra within the 90 zenith angle were also obtained.Based on these spectra,we calculated the radiation dose that would have been received by an average human body on Mars.The distribution of the dose throughout the human body was not uniform.The absorbed and equivalent doses for the brain were the highest among all of the organs,reaching 62.0±1.7 mGy/y and 234.1±8.0 mSv/y,respectively.The average absorbed and equivalent doses for the entire body were approximately 44 mGy/y and 153 mSv/y,respectively.Further analysis revealed that most of the radiation dose was owing to a particles,protons,and heavy ions.We then studied the shielding effect of the Mars soil with respect to the radiation.The body dose decreased significantly with increasing soil depth.At the depth of 1.5 m,the effective dose for the entire body was 17.9±2.4 mSv/y,lower than the dose limit for occupational exposure.At the depth of 3 m,the effective dose to the body was 2.7±1.0 mSv/y,still higher than the accepted dose limit.

Calculation of Mass Stopping Power and Range of Protons as Well as Important Radiation Quantities in Some Biological Human Bodyparts (Water, Muscle, Skeletal and Bone, Cortical)

In this work, the electronic mass stopping power and the range of protons in some biological human body parts (Water, Muscle, Skeletal and Bone, Cortical) were calculated in the energy range of protons 0.04 to 200 MeV using the theory of Bethe-Bloch formula as giving in the references. All these calculations were done using Matlab program. The data related to the densities, average atomic number to mass number and excitation energies for the present tissues and substances were collected from ICRU Report 44 (1989). The present results for electronic mass stopping powers and ranges were compared with the data of PSTAR and good agreements were found between them, especially at energies between 1 - 200 MeV for stopping power and 4 - 200 MeV for the range. Also in this study, several important quantities in the field of radiation, such as thickness, linear energy transfer (LET), absorbed dose, equivalent dose, and effective dose of the protons in the given biological human body parts were calculated at protons energy 0.04 - 200 MeV.

Apply X-Ray Fluorescence and γ-Ray Spectroscopy to Analyze Igneous and Sedimentary Environmental Samples of Al-Atawilah (Al-Baha), Saudi Arabia

Igneous and sedimentary rocks contain an amount of natural radioactivity (NORM). U-238, Th-232 and their decay products, and K-40 are important sources of gamma-radiation. Knowledge of the radionuclide content of rocks is necessary to estimate the exposure of the population to the radiation. Many types of rocks are used in building and industries, thus the radiation detection is important, it provides a baseline map of levels of the radioactivity in the study region. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides (U-238 (Ra-226), Th-232 and K-40) and the fallout nuclide (Cs-137) (if found) in thirty samples of igneous and sedimentary rocks of Al-Atawilah (Al-Baha). The samples were collected and prepared during 2018/2019, and analyzed with a good experimental instrument (High energy resolution γ-ray spectroscopy with HPGe detector), also these rock samples were analyzed with X-ray fluorescence to subdivided these rocks based on the major oxides proportions contained of each sample. The mean activity concentrations of naturally radionuclides were found in the igneous rock samples varied depending on the type of the igneous rock. For sedimentary rock samples, the activity concentrations were found high for quartz sandstone sample, which may be due to its high proportion of SiO2 and K2O. The estimated mean values of absorbed dose rate are within the permissible limit value. The findings indicate high dose level values in granite (rhyolite) and most of diorite (andesite) igneous rock samples while gabbro (basalt) igneous rock samples (except for one sample) record low levels of dose rate. All sedimentary rock samples have low dose rate (except for the quartz sand-stone sample).

Investigation of the Radiological Risk of Farmlands and the Transfer Factor from Soil to Crops in Jalingo and Wukari L.G.A of Taraba State, Nigeria

The activity concentrations of radionuclides, absorbed dose rate, excess lifetime cancer risk, and soil-to-plant transfer factor have been evaluated in soil and crop samples from Jalingo and Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria. The activity concentrations were determined with the aid of High Purity Germanium detector. The absorbed dose and excess lifetime cancer risk were evaluated and forecasted for 60 years using the ResRad off-site model. The average activity concentration of 40K, 232Th, and 238U in the soil samples were 633.13, 141.15, and 71.20 Bq·kg-1 respectively, for the Jalingo study area, and while that of the Wukari study area was;199.21, 87.23, and 25.37 Bq·kg-1 respectively. The average soil-to-plant transfer factors for 40K, 232Th, and 238U were 0.51, 0.10, and 0.27 respectively for the Jalingo study area while that of Wukari are 0.40, 0.57, and 0.74 respectively. The mean annual effective dose equivalent for the study area is higher than the world average of 0.07 mS·vy-1. The excess lifetime cancer risk for the study areas has values that are higher than the safety limit. The ResRed model showed that direct radiation from the crops is the major contributor to excess cancer risk among other pathways. The radiological hazard indices reveal health risks to farmers, especially in the Jalingo area.

Male Breast Cancer-Dosimetry Evaluation in Teletherapy

The rate of male breast cancer has increased in recent years, due to the deficiency of preventive examinations (male mammography). Besides, since male breasts are generally smaller than female breasts, it is essential to monitor the doses received by male breasts, as well as those received by close, healthy and critical organs in order to assess the plan used in this kind of treatment. To do this, the distribution of doses in male breasts was simulated and assessed, based on the procedures adopted in the treatment of female breasts, when submitted to a radiation beam from a linear accelerator. The Alderson Rando phantom was used and the relevant absorbed doses were measured by TLD-100 thermoluminescent dosimeters distributed throughout the volume of interest. The results of the treatment planning were compared with the results obtained by TLDs. A difference of up to 8.5%, in comparison with the planned dose, as well as a 6% relative standard deviation was found.

Assessment on Radiation Hazard Indices from Selected Dumpsites in Lafia Metropolis,Nasarawa State,Nigeria

This research reports an assessment of ionizing radiation in some chosen Dumpsites in Lafia Local government area of Nasarawa State.Ionizing radiation measurement was conducted at four Dump sites.The survey was done using a radiation survey meter(Radex one Outdoor 55130719 NA).Radiation exposure rate in micro sievert per hour(μSvhr^(-1))was measured.Readings were taken by placing the detector at gonad level about 1 meter above the ground.Result showed that the average annual effective dose rate in the selected dumpsites were 0.22 mSv/yr for Lafia modern market,0.17 mSv/yr for dumpsite opposite governor Isa house,0.15 mSv/yr for Timber shade Lafia and 0.20 mSv/yrfor Science School Lafia respectively with a mean value of 0.19 mSv/yr for all location,while the mean calculated excess life cancer risk(ELCR)is 0.65×10^(-3).Dumpsites yearly absorbed dose rate and their corresponding ELCR values did not exceed the 1.0 mSv/y Basic Safety Standard set for the masses by International Council on Radiation Protection(ICRP,1999)and mean world average ECLR value of 1.16×10^(-3).Based on these results there are no radiation consequence to the scavengers,dumpsite workers and residents living around the dumpsites.

Fertility Cancer and Hereditary Risks in Soil Sample of Nasarawa, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

A survey of Fertility Cancer and Hereditary Risks in Soil Sample of Nasarawa was carried out.This study assessed the level of Fertility Cancer and Hereditary Risks from the naturally occurring radionuclides;^(232)Th,^(226)Ra and ^(40)K.12 soil samples collected from the respective part of the Nasarawa were analyzed using the gamma-ray spectrometry NaI(Tl)detector system.The mean concentration for ^(40)K was 645.29±07.32 Bq/kg,for ^(226)Ra was 28.43±4.8422 Bq/Kg and for ^(232)Th was 66.84±2.0201 Bq/Kg.The average effective dose due to the ingestion was 0.36±0.1μSv/y which was approximately 1000 times lower than the world average effective dose.Radium equivalent activity Ra_(eq)(Bq/kg),alpha index and total cancer risk were found to be 161.44±8.08 Bq/kg,0.142±0.02 and(0.21±0.05)×10^(-5) respectively.UNSCEAR/USEPA stipulated that;radium equivalent activity,alpha index,effective dose and total cancer risk should not exceed the limit of 370 Bq/kg,unity,300μSv/y and 1×10^(-4) respectively.Hence the values obtained in this work were within the acceptable limits.This implies that the ingestion or inhalation of soil is not associated with any radiological risk of concern.

Assessment of radioactivity levels in some cement produced locally in Iraq

Purpose Due to the rapid expansion of the construction industries,cement production is ever-increasing worldwide and maintaining the qualities of the local cement became vital for safe and durable structures.In this regard,the radiometric assessment of cement plays a significant role.Method The specific activities of the naturally occurring radionuclides present in ten Portland cement samples that can cause possible health hazards were determined using a gamma-ray spectrometer equipped with(3×3)inch NaI(Tl)detector with 1024 channels.Result and conclusion The measured activity concentrations of Ra-226,Th-232,and K-40 were found in the range of 12.38–55.75(average of 31.29 Bq/kg),6.29–57.54(average of 15.97 Bq/kg),and 112.63–266.37(average of 168.24 Bq/kg),respectively.The recorded average activity concentration of these radionuclides in the cement was below the stipulated world standard by UNSCEAR(Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation,United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation UNSCEAR 2000 Report to the General Assembly,with Scientific Annexes,vol.I,2000).The obtained mean activity concentration of Raeq in the cement(67.101 Bq/kg)was much lower than the recommended guideline of 370 Bq/kg.In addition,the mean value of the calculated absorbed dose rate(59.947 nGy·h^(−1)),annual effective dose(0.220 mSv·y^(−1)),activity concentration index(0.240),alpha index(0.156),excess lifetime cancer risk(0.771×10^(−3))external(0.084)and internal(0.300)hazard index of the studied samples were much below the recommended safety limits.It is affirmed that the cement sold in the local market can safely be used for building constructions.