• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.29-35
• /
• 2016

Radiation generating devices must be properly shielded for their safe application. Although institutes such as US National Bureau of Standards and National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) have provided guidelines for shielding X-ray tube of various purposes, industry people tend to rely on 'Half Value Layer (HVL) method' which requires relatively simple calculation compared to the case of those guidelines. The method is based on the fact that the intensity, dose, and air kerma of narrow beam incident on shielding wall decreases by about half as the beam penetrates the HVL thickness of the wall. One can adjust shielding wall thickness to satisfy outside wall dose or air kerma requirements with this calculation. However, this may not always be the case because 1) The strict definition of HVL deals with only Intensity, 2) The situation is different when the beam is not 'narrow'; the beam quality inside the wall is distorted and related changes on outside wall dose or air kerma such as buildup effect occurs. Therefore, sometimes more careful research should be done in order to verify the effect of shielding specific radiation generating device. High energy X-ray tubes which is operated at the voltage above 400 kV that are used for 'heavy' nondestructive inspection is an example. People have less experience in running and shielding such device than in the case of widely-used low energy X-ray tubes operated at the voltage below 300 kV. In this study, Air Kerma value per week, outside concrete shielding wall of various thickness surrounding 450 kVp X-ray tube were calculated using MCNP simulation with the aid of Geometry Splitting method which is a famous Variance Reduction technique. The comparison between simulated result, HVL method result, and NCRP Report 147 safety goal $0.02mGy\;wk^{-1}$ on Air Kerma for the place where the public are free to pass showed that concrete wall of thickness 80 cm is needed to achieve the safety goal. Essentially same result was obtained from the application of HVL method except that it suggest the need of additional 5 cm concrete wall thickness. Therefore, employing the result from HVL method calculation as an conservative upper limit of concrete shielding wall thickness was found to be useful; It would be easy, economic, and reasonable way to set shielding wall thickness.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.111-115
• /
• 2016

Background: The scattered photons cause reduction of the contrast of radiographic image and it results in the degradation of the quality of the image. In order to acquire better quality image, an anti-scattering x-ray gird should be equipped in radiography system. Materials and Methods: The X-ray anti-scattering grid of the inclined type based on the hybrid concept for that of parallel and focused type was tested by MCNP code. The MCNPX 2.7.0 was used for the simulation based test. The geometry for the test was based on the IEC 60627 which was an international standard for diagnostic X-ray imaging equipment-Characteristics of general purpose and mammographic anti-scatter grids. Results and Discussion: The performance of grids with four inclined shielding material types was compared with that of the parallel type. The grid with completely tapered type the best performance where there were little performance difference according to the degree of inclination. Conclusion: It was shown that the grid of inclined type had better performance than that of parallel one.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.12
• /
• pp.1704-1710
• /
• 2020

The high-energy X-ray imaging detector used for container inspection uses a thick scintillator to effectively acquire X-rays. X-ray incident on the scintillator is generally up to 9MeV. Therefore, to effectively collect X-ray, it is necessary to use a thick scintillator. To collect the light generated by the reaction between X-ray and scintillator, an optical-sensor must be combined with the scintillator. In this study, a study on the design conditions of the detector using a CdWO4 and a small sensor is described. To calculate the collected light according to the change of the scintillator thickness and the reflectance of surface, MCNP6 and DETECT2000 were used. As a result of calculating, it was confirmed that when the reflectance of the surface was low, it was appropriate to select a scintillator with a thickness of 15 to 20-mm, but as the reflectance increased, it was confirmed that it was appropriate to select a CdWO4 with a thickness of 25 to 30-mm.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.63-72
• /
• 1989

An analysis for the gamma radiation fields in the research reactor MAPLE-X10 facility has been peformed under the assumption of partial loss of reactor and service pool water to assess the safety from the view point of design. Four photon source terms considered in the analysis were calculated using the ORIGEN-S code. Gamma dose rate calculations over the reactor and service pools during the water-loss accident conditions were performed using QAD-CG code. MCNP code (Monte Carlo Neuron and Photon Transport code), also, was used to assess the scattered radiation fields away from the pools, which is appropriate for calculating the scattered photon dose rates outside of the solid angle subtended by the source and pool walls.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.266-272
• /
• 2021

In the pulsed electron beam generators, such as plasma focus devices and linear induction accelerators whose electron pulse width is in the range of nanosecond and less, as well as in cases where there is no direct access to electron beam, like runaway electrons in Tokamaks, measurement of the electron energy spectrum is a technical challenge. In such cases, the indirect measurement of the electron spectrum by using the bremsstrahlung radiation spectrum associated with it, is an appropriate solution. The problem with this method is that the matrix equation between the two spectrums is an ill-conditioned equation, which results in errors of the measured X-ray spectrum to be propagated with a large coefficient in the estimated electron spectrum. In this study, a method based on the neural network and the MCNP code is presented and evaluated to recover the electron spectrum from the X-ray generated by collision of the electron beam with a target. Multilayer perceptron network showed good accuracy in electron spectrum recovery, so that for the X-ray spectrum with errors of 3% and 10%, the network estimated the electron spectrum with an average standard error of 8% and 11%, on all of the energy intervals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2002.11a
• /
• pp.420-423
• /
• 2002

In recent years, there has been keen interest in developing f1at panel detectors for all modalities of radiology, including gerneral radiology, fluoroscopy(angiography and cardiology), electronic portal imaging, and mammography. In this paper, we report the new hybrid x-ray detector consisted of CsI(Tl) photoemission layer and a-Se photoconductor layer to resolve conventional x-ray detector such as the direct detector using a-Se and the indirect detector using CsI(Tl)/a-Si. To design the structure of CsI(Tl)/a-Se detector, the penetrated energy spectrum and absorption fraction was estimated using MCNP 4C code. Experimental results showed that the absorption fraction of $500{\mu}m-Se$ film and $150{\mu}m-CsI\left(Tl \right)/a-Se\left( 30{\mu}m \right)$ film is 70% at 70 kVp. The absorption energy is 90% at $350{\mu}m-CsI(Tl)$.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2015

The trend of x-ray image sensor has been evolved from an amorphous silicon sensor to a crystal silicon sensor. A crystal silicon X-ray sensor, meaning a X-ray CIS (CMOS image sensor), is consisted of three transistors (Trs), i.e., a Reset Transistor, a Source Follower and a Select Transistor, and a photodiode. They are highly sensitive to radiation exposure. As the frequency of exposure to radiation increases, the quality of the imaging device dramatically decreases. The most well known effects of a X-ray CIS due to the radiation damage are increments in the reset voltage and dark currents. In this study, a pixel array of a X-ray CIS was made of $20{\times}20pixels$ and this pixel array was exposed to a high radiation dose. The radiation source was Co-60 and the total radiation dose was increased from 1 to 9 kGy with a step of 1 kGy. We irradiated the small pixel array to get the increments data of the reset voltage and the dark currents. Also, we simulated the radiation effects of the pixel by MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) simulation. From the comparison of actual data and simulation data, the most affected location could be determined and the cause of the increments of the reset voltage and dark current could be found.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.8
• /
• pp.3335-3346
• /
• 2024

Due to the radiation released by commonly used isotopes, many nuclear, medical, and industrial facilities require proper radiation shielding. In this work, distinct copper borate glasses intercalated with varied aluminum and vanadium oxide (Al₂O₃ and V₂O₅) content have been synthesized and used against radiation (gamma rays and fast/thermal neutrons). The different percents were as follows: [60% B₂O₃ + 35% CuO + (5-x)% Al₂O₃ + xV₂O₅], where x = 0, 1, and 2.5 wt.%, which was coded as BCu(5-x)Al:xV. The synthesized glass samples were characterized using Fourier transforms, infrared, and X-Raydiffraction analysis. Experimentally, the radiation shielding possessions of the samples were established using an HPGe detector at the gamma energy lines 0.356 MeV, 0.661 MeV, 1.173 MeV, and 1.332 MeV. Also, the prepared glasses were investigated theoretically using the Monte Carlo code (MCNP5) at photon energies of 0.015-15 MeV. Also, the fast and thermal neutron macroscopic effective removal cross-sections were calculated using MRCsC and JANIS-4.1 software, respectively. The prepared sample BCu2.5Al:2.5V, which has a vanadium and aluminum content of 2.5%, has the highest linear attenuation coefficient as well as the highest removal cross-section for fast, and thermal neutrons.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.197-204
• /
• 2017

Background: X-ray imaging detectors for the nondestructive cargo container inspection using MeV-energy X-rays should accurately portray the internal structure of the irradiated container. Internal and external factors can cause noise, affecting image quality, and scattered radiation is the greatest source of noise. To obtain a high-performance transmission image, the influence of scattered radiation must be minimized, and this can be accomplished through several methods. The scatter rejection method using an anti-scatter grid is the preferred method to reduce the impact of scattered radiation. In this paper, we present an evaluation the characteristics of the signal and noise according to physical and material changes in the anti-scatter grid of the imaging detector used in cargo container scanners. Materials and Methods: We evaluated the characteristics of the signal and noise according to changes in the grid ratio and the material of the anti-scatter grid in an X-ray image detector using MCNP6. The grid was composed of iron, lead, or tungsten, and the grid ratio was set to 2.5, 12.5, 25, or 37.5. X-ray spectrum sources for simulation were generated by 6- and 9-MeV electron impacts on the tungsten target using MCNP6. The object in the simulation was designed using metallic material of various thicknesses inside the steel container. Using the results of the computational simulation, we calculated the change in the scatter-to-primary ratio and the signal-to-noise ratio improvement factor according to the grid ratio and the grid material, respectively. Results and Discussion: Changing the grid ratios of the anti-scatter grid and the grid material decreased the scatter linearly, affecting the signal-to-noise ratio. Conclusion: The grid ratio and material of the anti-scatter grid affected the response characteristics of a container scanner using high-energy X-rays, but to a minimal extent; thus, it may not be practically effective to incorporate anti-scatter grids into container scanners.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.184-196
• /
• 2023

Background: Radiation protection is crucial in various fields due to the harmful effects of radiation. Shielding is used to reduce radiation exposure, but gamma radiation poses challenges due to its high energy and penetration capabilities. Materials and Methods: This work investigates the radiation shielding properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) samples containing different weight fraction of tungsten carbide (WC), tungsten trioxide (WO₃), and tungsten disulfide (WS₂). Parameters such as the mass attenuation coefficient (MAC), half-value layer (HVL), mean free path (MFP), effective atomic number (Z_eff), and macroscopic effective removal cross-section for fast neutrons (Σ_R) were calculated using the Phy-X/PSD software. EpiXS simulations were conducted for MAC validation. Results and Discussion: Increasing the weight fraction of the additives resulted in higher MAC values, indicating improved radiation shielding. PVDF-xWC showed the highest percentage increase in MAC values. MFP results indicated that PVDF-0.20WC has the lowest values, suggesting superior shielding properties compared to PVDF-0.20WO₃ and PVDF-0.20WS₂. PVDF-0.20WC also exhibited the highest Z_eff values, while PVDF-0.20WS₂ showed a slightly higher increase in Z_eff at energies of 0.662 and 1.333 MeV. PVDF-0.20WC has demonstrated the highest Σ_R value, indicating effective shielding against fast neutrons, while PVDF-0.20WS₂ had the lowest Σ_R value. The Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport version 5 (MCNP5) simulations showed that PVDF-xWC attenuates gamma radiation more than pure PVDF, significantly decreasing the dose equivalent rate. Conclusion: Overall, this research provides insights into the radiation shielding properties of PVDF mixtures, with PVDF-xWC showing the most promising results.