• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2012

In order to dispose of the LILW(low and intermediate level radioactive waste) stored at KAERI, the radwaste drum assay system will be introduced to evaluate the radioisotopes inventory of stored drums. At present, the construction project of the dedicated assay facility to operate it and carry out routine maintenance of that equipment has been conducting at the radwaste treatment facility. Since that facility will be constructed in front of a 1st radwaste storage facility as well as the radwaste drums to be assayed and the transmission source in the radwaste drum assay system are in that facility, they could act as the radioactive sources and then, would affect the dose rate at the inside and the outside of the facility. Therefore, the radiation shielding should be evaluated through the concrete wall near to the radioactive sources whether the wall thickness is sufficient against the regulations. In this study, the radiation safety for the concrete wall around the radiation controlled area in the radwaste drum assay facility was evaluated by the MCNP code. From the evaluation results, the thickness of those concrete walls which are under consideration of about 30 cm was enough to shield the radiation from the radioactive sources.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2014

The accuracy and uniformity of CT numbers are the main causes of radiation dose calculation error. Especially, for the dose calculation based on kV-Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) image, the scatter affecting the CT number is known to be quite different by the object sizes, densities, exposure conditions, and so on. In this study, the scatter impact on the CBCT based dose calculation was evaluated to provide the optimal condition minimizing the error. The CBCT images was acquired under three scatter conditions ("Under-scatter", "Over-scatter", and "Full-scatter") by adjusting amount of scatter materials around a electron density phantom (CIRS062, Tissue Simulation Technology, Norfolk, VA, USA). The CT number uniformities of CBCT images for water-equivalent materials of the phantom were assessed, and the location dependency, either "inner" or "outer" parts of the phantom, was also evaluated. The electron density correction curves were derived from CBCT images of the electron density phantom in each scatter condition. The electron density correction curves were applied to calculate the CBCT based doses, which were compared with the dose based on Fan Beam Computed Tomography (FBCT). Also, 5 prostate IMRT cases were enrolled to assess the accuracy of dose based on CBCT images using gamma index analysis and relative dose differences. As the CT number histogram of phantom CBCT images for water equivalent materials was fitted with a gaussian function, the FHWM (146 HU) for "Full-scatter" condition was the smallest among the FHWM for the three conditions (685 HU for "under scatter" and 264 HU for "over scatter"). Also, the variance of CT numbers was the smallest for the same ingredients located in the center and periphery of the phantom in the "Full-scatter" condition. The dose distributions calculated with FBCT and CBCT images compared in a gamma index evaluation of 1%/3 mm criteria and in the dose difference. With the electron density correction acquired in the same scatter condition, the CBCT based dose calculations tended to be the most accurate. In 5 prostate cases in which the mean equivalent diameter was 27.2 cm, the averaged gamma pass rate was 98% and the dose difference confirmed to be less than 2% (average 0.2%, ranged from -1.3% to 1.6%) with the electron density correction of the "Full-scatter" condition. The accuracy of CBCT based dose calculation could be confirmed that closely related to the CT number uniformity and to the similarity of the scatter conditions for the electron density correction curve and CBCT image. In pelvic cases, the most accurate dose calculation was achievable in the application of the electron density curves of the "Full-scatter" condition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.35-35
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• 2003

목적 : 세기변조방사선치료의 정도관리 중 선량 분포의 비교에 관한 새로운 정량적인 방법을 제시하였다. 이 과정 중에서 선량의 기울기가 큰 영역에서의 문제점을 해결하기 위하여 최적화 알고리듬을 사용하였다. 대상 및 방법 : 필름을 통해 측정된 선량분포와 컴퓨터를 통해 구해진 선량분포를 각각 5mm 간격과 lmm 간격의 해상도로 컴퓨터를 이용해 2 차원 선량분포로 구현한다. 그 후 두 선량분포사이의 차이를 각 선량분 포의 원점을 일치시킨 후 구해낸다. 이때 일반적으로 두 선량분포 사이의 차이는 선량의 기울기가 큰 영역에서 상당히 크게 나타나게 되는데 이것은 측정 장비의 원점을 구하는 과정에서 발생되는 이차원 상의 미세한 원점의 불일치 효과로 선량의 차이가 선량의 기울기가 큰 영역에서 더욱 커지기 때문이다. 이 불일치를 보정하기 위해서, 측정된 선량분포를 계산된 선량분포 위에서 lmm 간격으로 이동시켜가면서 선량의 차이를 계산하여 이 값이 최소가 되는 위치를 확인한다. 이때의 이동치는 가속기가 갖는 허용오차 이내에 있어야 하며 이 값은 2mm로 알려져 있다. 이 과정과는 독립적으로 이온 챔버를 통해 측정된 절대선량 값을 이용하여 두 선량분포 사이를 재 규격화한 뒤 차이를 구하게 되면 우리는 5mm 간격의 2 차원 절대선량 분포 비교를 실험상의 오차들 중 가장 크게 작용하는 원점 오차로 인한 오차를 제거한 뒤 수행한 것과 같은 결과를 얻게 된다. 여기서 계산된 선량분포의 해상도는 장비의 허용오차 보다 항상 작아야 한다. 결과 : 머리와 목에 환부를 갖는 여러 환자들에 대한 선량분포 비교 결과를 통해서, 측정된 선량분포와 계산된 선량분포사이의 허용오차 범위에 대한 일시적 기준을 마련하였다. 이 기준은 물론 더 많은 환자들에 대한 선량분포 비교를 통해 개선되어질 수 있다. 결론 : 측정 장비의 원점 불일치의 보정뿐만 아니라 측정 장비의 회전에 의한 오차 보정, 필름의 광학적 밀도에 관한 보정 등 여러 가지 계통적 오차들에 대한 보정들이 선량분포 확인과정의 이해와 그 기준마련에 도움이 되겠지만 우리가 다룬 원점 불일치에 비해서 상대적으로 무시할 수 있었다. 마지막으로 선량분포 확인의 최종목표인 3 차원 선량분포 확인의 실제 적용을 위한 연구가 최적화 알고리듬을 이용하여 실험 중에 있다.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.661-668
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• 2020

One of the causes of death for pregnant female is embolism, when a chest PA examination is performed. In addition, due to small doses, the examinations are performed for the purpose of preparing for pre-delivery emergency surgery or basic examination for pregnant female. Evaluating fetal doses through actual measurements is subject to ethical problems, Monte Carlo simulations assesses the organ and fetal doses of pregnant females according to week of pregnancy. The results of the simulations showed that the fetal dose decreased according to weeks of pregnancy and it showed a dose of about 0.1 mGy. The higher the density and thickness of the shielding material, the better the shielding effect. In addition, the dose reduction effect for each shielding material is between 40 and 98%. Afterwards, it is deemed necessary to study the reduction of fetal doses through various shielding characteristics and methods.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.87-95
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• 2003

The fabrication process and the structure of PIN semiconductor detectors have been designed optimally by simulation for doping concentration and width of p+ layer, impurities re-contribution due to annealing and the current distribution due to guard ring at the sliced edges. The characteristics to radiation response has been also simulated in terms of Monte Carlo Method. The device has been fabricated on n type, $400\;{\Omega}cm$, orientation <100>, Floating-Zone silicon wafer using the simulation results. The leakage current density of $0.7nA/cm^2/100{\mu}m$ is achieved by this process. The good linearity of radiation response to Cs-137 was kept within the exposure ranges between 5 mR/h and 25 R/h. This proposed process could be applied for fabricating a PIN semiconductor detector for measuring individual dose.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.12
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• pp.1567-1572
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• 2013

To supply electric power in certain extreme environments such as a spacecraft or in military applications, a radioisotope thermoelectric generator has been highlighted as a useful energy source owing to its high energy density, long lifetime, and high reliability. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator generates electric power by using the heat energy converted from the radioactive energy of a radioisotope. In this study, FE analyses such as radiation shield analysis, heat transfer analysis, and power recovery rate analysis have been carried out to achieve an optimal design for a radioisotope thermoelectric generator using $SrTiO_2$.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.211-218
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sex and menopausal age on the thickness and density of squamous portion of the temporal bone as the membranous bone. Patients who visited a general hospital in Chungnam and had a computed tomography (CT) examination of the head. A retrospective study was conducted with 120 subjects (30 men under 55 years old, 30 men over 56 years old, 30 women under 55 years old, and 30 women over 56 years old). Axial images of the squamous portion in the temporal bone were obtained from CT of the head. For this image, a slice sensitive profile (SSP) was acquired with an image analysis program and these were evaluated. The thickness was measured by using a digital ruler to measure the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the SSP, and the density was measured in hounsfield unit (HU). These by gender were measured to be about 0.5 mm thinner in the temporal bone in men than in women, and there was a significant difference. The density was measured to be about 200 HU higher in women than in men of it, and there was a significant difference. As a result, it in women was thicker and had a lower density. The thickness of it in men and women over 56 years of age was 0.8 mm or more thicker in women and less than 400 HU in density. As a result, the women group over the age of 56 showed a distinct increase in thickness and decrease in density, different from other target groups. It is expected that the results of this study could be used as basic data for a new bone density measurement site study.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.189-194
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• 2008

Purpose: We designed a water-based bolus device for radiation therapy in Kaposi's sarcoma. This study evaluated the usefulness of this new device and compared it with the currently used rice-based bolus. Materials and Methods: We fashioned a polystyrene box and cut a hole in order to insert patient's extremities while the patient was in the supine position. We used a vacuum-vinyl based polymer to reduce water leakage. Next, we eliminated air using a vacuum pump and a vacuum valve to reduce the air gap between the water and extremities in the vacuum-vinyl box. We performed CT scans to evaluate the density difference of the fabricated water-based bolus device when the device in which the rice-based bolus was placed directly, the rice-based bolus with polymer-vinyl packed rice, and the water were all put in. We analyzed the density change with the air gap volume using a planning system. In addition, we measured the homogeneity and dose in the low-extremities phantom, attached to six TLD, and wrapped film exposed in parallel-opposite fields with the LINAC under the same conditions as the set-up of the CT-simulator. Results: The density value of the rice-based bolus with the rice put in directly was 14% lower than that of the water-based bolus. Moreover, the value of the other experiments in the rice-based bolus with the polymer-vinyl packed rice showed an 18% reduction in density. The analysis of the EDR2 film revealed that the water-based bolus shows a more homogeneous dose plan, which was superior by $4{\sim}4.4%$ to the rice-base bolus. The mean TLD readings of the rice-based bolus, with the rice put directly into the polystyrene box had a 3.4% higher density value. Moreover, the density value in the case of the rice-based bolus with polymer-vinyl packed rice had a 4.3% higher reading compared to the water-based bolus. Conclusion: Our custom-made water-based bolus device increases the accuracy of the set-up by confirming the treatment field. It also improves the accuracy of the therapy owing to the reduction of the air gap using a vacuum pump and a vacuum valve. This set-up represents a promising alternative device for delivering a homogenous dose to the target volume.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2014

The aim of this study is to develop a new software tool for 3D dose verification using $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel dosimeter. The tool included following functions: importing 3D doses from treatment planning systems (TPS), importing 3D optical density (OD), converting ODs to doses, 3D registration between two volumetric data by translational and rotational transformations, and evaluation with 3D gamma index. To acquire correlation between ODs and doses, CT images of a $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel with cylindrical shape was acquired, and a volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan was designed to give radiation doses from 1 Gy to 6 Gy to six disk-shaped virtual targets along z-axis. After the VMAT plan was delivered to the targets, 3D OD data were reconstructed from 512 projection data from $Vista^{TM}$ optical CT scanner (Modus Medical Devices Inc, Canada) per every 2 hours after irradiation. A curve for converting ODs to doses was derived by comparing TPS dose profile to OD profile along z-axis, and the 3D OD data were converted to the absorbed doses using the curve. Supra-linearity was observed between doses and ODs, and the ODs were decayed about 60% per 24 hours depending on their magnitudes. Measured doses from the $PRESAGE^{REU}$ Gel were well agreed with the TPS doses at central region, but large under-doses were observed at peripheral region at the cylindrical geometry. Gamma passing rate for 3D doses was 70.36% under the gamma criteria of 3% of dose difference and 3 mm of distance to agreement. The low passing rate was resulted from the mismatching of the refractive index between the PRESAGE gel and oil bath in the optical CT scanner. In conclusion, the developed software was useful for 3D dose verification from PRESAGE gel dosimetry, but further improvement of the Gel dosimetry system were required.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.237-242
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• 2013

In the intracranial regions, an accurate delineation of the target volume has been difficult with only the CT data due to poor soft tissue contrast of CT images. Therefore, the magnetic resonance images (MRI) for the delineation of the target volumes were widely used. To calculate dose distributions with MRI-based RTP, the electron density (ED) mapping concept from the diagnostic CT images and the pseudo CT concept from the MRI were introduced. In this study, the look up table (LUT) from the fifteen patients' diagnostic brain MRI images was created to verify the feasibility of MRI-based RTP. The dose distributions from the MRI-based calculations were compared to the original CT-based calculation. One MRI set has ED information from LUT (lMRI). Another set was generated with voxel values assigned with a homogeneous density of water (wMRI). A simple plan with a single anterior 6MV one portal was applied to the CT, lMRI, and wMRI. Depending on the patient's target geometry for the 3D conformal plan, 6MV photon beams and from two to five gantry portals were used. The differences of the dose distribution and DVH between the lMRI based and CT-based plan were smaller than the wMRI-based plan. The dose difference of wMRI vs. lMRI was measured as 91 cGy vs. 57 cGy at maximum dose, 74 cGt vs. 42 cGy at mean dose, and 94 cGy vs. 53 at minimum dose. The differences of maximum dose, minimum dose, and mean dose of the wMRI-based plan were lower than the lMRI-based plan, because the air cavity was not calculated in the wMRI-based plan. These results prove the feasibility of the lMRI-based planning for brain tumor radiation therapy.