• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.10
• /
• pp.3854-3859
• /
• 2023

Background: This study aims to develop an evaluator that can quickly and accurately evaluate the shielding of low-energy industrial radiation generators. Methods: We used PyQt to develop a graphical user interface (GUI)-based program and employed the calculation methodology reported in the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP)-49 for shielding calculations. We gathered the necessary factors for shielding evaluation using two libraries designed for Python, pandas and NumPy, and processed them into a database. We verified the effectiveness of the proposed program by comparing the results with those from safety reports of six domestic facilities. Results: After verifying the effectiveness of the program using the NCRP-49 example, we obtained an average error rate of 1.73%. When comparing the facility safety report and results obtained using the program, we found that the error rate was between 1.09% and 6.51%. However, facilities that did not use a defined shielding methodology were underestimated by 31.82% compared with the program (the final barrier thickness satisfied the shielding standard). Conclusion: The developed program provides a fast and accurate shielding evaluation that can assist personnel that work in radiation generator facilities and government officials in reviewing safety.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
• /
• 2006.06a
• /
• pp.460-467
• /
• 2006

Some large accidents in tunnels in recent years, such as Mont Blanc, Gotthard and Tauern tunnels, have lead to an increasing attention for tunnel safety and necessity of tool for quantitative risk assesment of road tunnel. And the purpose of this study is to develop the quantitative risk assesment tool for the application of road tunnel. The objectives of this paper are as follows : (1) analyze of traffic accident rates in tunnel, (2) make out scenario for fire accidents, (3) develop the evacuation model and FED calculation model, (4) Present the results from quantitative risk assesment for the model tunnel according with the fire heat release rates and distances of cross passage.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.305-311
• /
• 1989

Fletcher-Suit colpostat has an internal structure to reduce dose to bladder and rectum. Some programs were developed to calculate dose at any point in water in three dimension around the colpostat containing Cs-137 tube, to find the shielding effect to dose by the internal structure, and to draw isodose curves and iso-shielding effect curves. Computer was an IBM compatible AT with EGA card and language was MS-Basic V6.0, Material, shape and geometry of the strucure, tube and colpostat were considered in algorithm for calculation of dose. Dose rates per unit mg. Ra. eq. in water calculated by a program were stored in auxiliary memory devices and retrieved in another programs. Isodose curves on medial side shrinked. Dose distribution was not symmetric about a transverse axis bisecting the colpostat. Reduction of dose was more excessive on top side than on bottom. Iso-shielding effect curve showed that the shielding effect was higher on top side than on bottom, and that there was shielding effect over almost all area of medial side. Such results were related to both shifted position of tube in the colpostat and asymmetric distribution of active source in the tube. Maximum of shielding effect was $49\%$ on top side and $44\%$ on bottom side. The direction of iso-shielding effect curve was generally radial from the center of active source. In treatment planning using Fletcher-Suit colpostat, the internal structure should be considered to find precise doses to bladder and rectum, etc.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.215-224
• /
• 2019

The objective of study was to identify perceived medication administration Competence of senior nursing students. A total of 128 students were recruited. The instruments for this study were self-efficacy for drug dosage calculation, anxiety for drug dosage calculation and perceived medication administration competence. The data were collected from November 2018 to January 2019, analyzed by descriptive analysis, chi-square, t-test, Scheffe test, correlation coefficients, and multiple regression using the SPSS 25.0 program. The main predictors of perceived medication administration competence were identified as confidence in drug dosage calculation (${\beta}=.463$, p<.001), Attitude of participation at clinical practice (${\beta}=.168$, p=.040). These two factors explained about 29% of variance in perceived medication administration competence (F=26.93, p<.001). It can contribute to improve their ability to administrate medication in practice, with the accuracy of prescription, recalculation of prescribed drug dose, and observation of adverse reactions in clinical practice and simulation with collaborative approach.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.2215-2221
• /
• 2023

In order to further meet the requirements of weight, volume, and dose minimization for new nuclear energy devices, the bare-bones multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to automatically and iteratively optimize the design parameters of radiation shielding system material, thickness, and structure. The radiation shielding optimization program based on the bare-bones particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed and coupled into the reactor radiation shielding multi-objective intelligent optimization platform, and the code is verified by using the Savannah benchmark model. The material type and thickness of Savannah model were optimized by using the BBMOPSO algorithm to call the dose calculation code, the integrated optimized data showed that the weight decreased by 78.77%, the volume decreased by 23.10% and the dose rate decreased by 72.41% compared with the initial solution. The results show that the method can get the best radiation shielding solution that meets a lot of different goals. This shows that the method is both effective and feasible, and it makes up for the lack of manual optimization.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.81-90
• /
• 2002

Purpose : To establish and verify the proper and the practical IMRT (Intensity--modulated radiation therapy) patient QA (Quality Assurance). Materials and Methods : An IMRT QA which consists of 3 steps and 16 items were designed and examined the validity of the program by applying to 9 patients, 12 IMRT cases of various sites. The three step OA program consists of RTP related QA, treatment information flow QA, and a treatment delivery QA procedure. The evaluation of organ constraints, the validity of the point dose, and the dose distribution are major issues in the RTP related QA procedure. The leaf sequence file generation, the evaluation of the MLC control file, the comparison of the dry run film, and the IMRT field simulate image were included in the treatment information flow procedure QA. The patient setup QA, the verification of the IMRT treatment fields to the patients, and the examination of the data in the Record & Verify system make up the treatment delivery QA procedure. Results : The point dose measurement results of 10 cases showed good agreement with the RTP calculation within $3\%$. One case showed more than a $3\%$ difference and the other case showed more than $5\%$, which was out side the tolerance level. We could not find any differences of more than 2 mm between the RTP leaf sequence and the dry run film. Film dosimetry and the dose distribution from the phantom plan showed the same tendency, but quantitative analysis was not possible because of the film dosimetry nature. No error had been found from the MLC control file and one mis-registration case was found before treatment. Conclusion : This study shows the usefulness and the necessity of the IMRT patient QA program. The whole procedure of this program should be peformed, especially by institutions that have just started to accumulate experience. But, the program is too complex and time consuming. Therefore, we propose practical and essential QA items for institutions in which the IMRT is performed as a routine procedure.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.107-120
• /
• 2019

The decommissioning of one nuclear power plant in a multi-unit nuclear power plant (multi-unit NPP) site may pose radiation exposure risk to decommissioning workers. Thus, it is essentially required to evaluate the exposure dose of decommissioning workers of operating multi-unit NPPs nearby. The ENDOS program is a dose evaluation code developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). As two sub-programs of ENDOS, ENDOS-ATM to anticipate atmospheric transport and ENDOS-G to calculate exposure dose by gaseous radioactive effluents are used in this study. As a result, the annual maximum individual dose for decommissioning workers is estimated to be $2.31{\times}10^{-3}mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$, which is insignificant compared with the effective dose limit of $1mSv{\cdot}y^{-1}$ for the public. Although it is revealed that the exposure dose of operating multi-unit NPPs does not result in a significant impact on decommissioning workers, closer examination of the effect of additional exposure due to actual demolition work is required. The calculation method of this study is expected to be utilized in the future for planned decommissioning projects in Korea. Because domestic NPPs are located in multi-unit sites, similar situations may occur.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.9-14
• /
• 2013

Purpose: High-energy radiotherapy with 10 MV or higher develops photoneutron through photonuclear reaction. Photoneutron has higher radiation weighting factor than X-ray, thus low dose can greatly affect the human body. An accurate dosimetric calculation and consultation are needed. This study compared and analyzed the dose change of photoneutron in terms of space according to the size of photon beam energy and treatment methods. Materials and Methods: To measure the dose change of photoneutron by the size of photon beam energy, patients with the same therapy area were recruited and conventional plans with 10 MV and 15 MV were each made. To measure the difference between the two treatment methods, 10 MV conventional plan and 10 MV IMRT plan was made. A detector was placed at the point which was 100 cm away from the photon beam isocenter, which was placed in the center of $^3He$ proportional counter, and the photoneutron dose was measured. $^3He$ proportional counter was placed 50 cm longitudinally superior to and inferior to the couch with the central point as the standard to measure the dose change by position changes. A commercial program was used for dose change analysis. Results: The average integral dose by energy size was $220.27{\mu}Sv$ and $526.61{\mu}Sv$ in 10 MV and 15 MV conventional RT, respectively. The average dose increased 2.39 times in 15 MV conventional RT. The average photoneutron integral dose in conventional RT and IMRT with the same energy was $220.27{\mu}Sv$ and $308.27{\mu}Sv$ each; the dose in IMRT increased 1.40 times. The average photoneutron integral dose by measurement location resulted significantly higher in point 2 than 3 in conventional RT, 7.1% higher in 10 MV, and 3.0% higher in 15 MV. Conclusion: When high energy radiotherapy, it should consider energy selection, treatment method and patient position to reduce unnecessary dose by photoneutron. Also, the dose data of photoneutron needs to be systematized to find methods to apply computerization programs. This is considered to decrease secondary cancer probabilities and side effects due to radiation therapy and to minimize unnecessary dose for the patients.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.150-157
• /
• 2022

Purpose: Elekta synergy^® was commissioned in the Seoul National University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Recently, Chung-Ang University Gwang Myeong Hospital commissioned Elekta Versa HD^TM. The beam characteristics of both machines are similar because of the same Agility^TM MLC Model. We compared measured beam data calculated using the Elekta treatment planning system, Monaco^®, for each institute. Methods: Beam of the commissioning Elekta linear accelerator were measured in two independent institutes. After installing the beam model based on the measured beam data into the Monaco^®, Monte Carlo (MC) simulation data were generated, mimicking the beam data in a virtual water phantom. Measured beam data were compared with the calculated data, and their similarity was quantitatively evaluated by the gamma analysis. Results: We compared the percent depth dose (PDD) and off-axis profiles of 6 MV photon and 6 MeV electron beams with MC calculation. With a 3%/3 mm gamma criterion, the photon PDD and profiles showed 100% gamma passing rates except for one inplane profile at 10 cm depth from VMTH. Gamma analysis of the measured photon beam off-axis profiles between the two institutes showed 100% agreement. The electron beams also indicated 100% agreement in PDD distributions. However, the gamma passing rates of the off-axis profiles were 91%-100% with a 3%/3 mm gamma criterion. Conclusions: The beam and their comparison with MC calculation for each institute showed good performance. Although the measuring tools were orthogonal, no significant difference was found.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.23-30
• /
• 2012

Purpose: There was a problem with using MU verification programs for the reasons that there were errors of MU when using MU verification programs based on Pencil Beam Convolution (PBC) Algorithm with radiation treatment plans around lung using Analytical Anisotropic Algorithm (AAA). On this study, we studied the methods that can verify the calculated treatment plans using AAA. Materials and Methods: Using Eclipse treatment planning system (Version 8.9, Varian, USA), for each 57 fields of 7 cases of Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT), we have calculated using PBC and AAA with dose calculation algorithm. By developing MU of established plans, we compared and analyzed with MU of manual calculation programs. We have analyzed relationship between errors and 4 variables such as field size, lung path distance of radiation, Tumor path distance of radiation, effective depth that can affect on errors created from PBC algorithm and AAA using commonly used programs. Results: Errors of PBC algorithm have showned $0.2{\pm}1.0%$ and errors of AAA have showned $3.5{\pm}2.8%$. Moreover, as a result of analyzing 4 variables that can affect on errors, relationship in errors between lung path distance and MU, connection coefficient 0.648 (P=0.000) has been increased and we could calculate MU correction factor that is A.E=L.P 0.00903+0.02048 and as a result of replying for manual calculation program, errors of $3.5{\pm}2.8%$ before the application has been decreased within $0.4{\pm}2.0%$. Conclusion: On this study, we have learned that errors from manual calculation program have been increased as lung path distance of radiation increases and we could verified MU of AAA with a simple method that is called MU correction factor.