• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.373-377
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• 2019

Radiation exposure is on the rise as the working hours of radiation workers increase. Accordingly, the importance of protection products for decreasing the dose of exposure has risen, and excellent X-ray shielding ability and light weight are required. The purpose of this study is to compare the Pb which use currently and other elements in order to reduce the exposure of workers to the most effective protection products. For experiment, we used the general X-ray equipment and angiography equipment, and obtained the Pb and apron's shielding rate. When the shielding rate of Pb and apron was compared in general X-ray equipment, the shielding rate was 95.1% for Pb 0.5 mm, 96.1% for apron 0.5 mmPb and 95.6% for Bi+W 0.5 mmPb. When compared the shielding rate of each aprons in angiography equipment, 0.5 mmPb apron was the highest as 96.4% and Bi+W 0.25 mmPb apron was the lowest as 90.2% at the 50 cm distance. The shielding rate of 0.5 mmPb apron was the highest as 95.7% and Bi+W 0.25 mmPb apron was the lowest as 85.9% at the 100 cm distance. As a result of evaluating the apron efficiency through this study, 0.5 mmPb apron showed the best shielding rate, but it was the heaviest apron. 0.35 mmPb apron and Bi+W 0.25 mmPb apron weighed light but had low shielding rate. Through the results of this experiment, it is recommended that radiation workers reduce radiation exposure by using more efficient protection products.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.363-371
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• 2019

In this study, physical properties of normal concrete, magnetite concrete, EAF concrete, and EAF concrete with added iron powder were evaluated and a feasibility of radiation shielding is also evaluated through irradiation tests against X-rays and gamma-rays. While the unit weight of EAF concrete (3.21 t/㎥) appeared lower than that of magnetite concrete (3.50 t/㎥), the results in compressive strength of EAF concrete were greater than those in magnetite and normal concrete. While the radiation transmission rate of normal concrete reaches 26.0% in the X-ray irradiation test, only 6.0% and 9.0% of transmission rate were observed in magnetite concrete and linear relationship with unit volume weight and radiation shielding. In the gamma-ray irradiation test, the performance of EAF and magnetite concretes appeared to be similar. Through the results on the excellent physical properties and radiation shielding performance a potential applicability of EAF concrete to radiation shielding was verified.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.449-455
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• 2022

The rapid rise in the application of novel treatment techniques, such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), motivated us to survey the status of Korea's radiation safety management and the shielding designs of facilities employing medical linear accelerators (LINACs). To this end, a questionnaire was used to collect information on LINAC facilities and treatments, workload, shielding design, shielding management, and path of obtaining shielding information. Out of 100 domestic institutions, 52 responded to the survey. Approximately 70% of the institutions utilized IMRT for more than 60% of their cases, and an IMRT factor of 5 was adopted by 75% of these institutions. Over 80% of the institutions accounted for the applied time-averaged dose rate per week and instantaneous dose equivalent rates in their shielding designs. Approximately 45% of the institutions obtained important shielding information via a radiation shielding design company and the NCRP-151 report. Overall, most facilities were shown to follow the standards recommended by the relevant international agencies. However, the requirement to establish standardized shielding design information and clarify ambiguous paths for information acquisition was also highlighted. Therefore, the study's results can be used as a foundation for establishing a safety control system and for creating adequate shielding designs.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.615-621
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• 2021

In the medical field, radiation provides information for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. As the use of radiation increases and the risk of exposure increases, interest in radiation protection is also rapidly increasing. Lead shielding material is mainly used, which has a risk of lead poisoning and absorption into the body. Tungsten mixed filament shielding sheets were fabricated with a size of 70 × 70 mm and a thickness of 1, 2, and 4 mm by using a 3D printer. In the general shooting experiment, the thickness of the shielding sheet is 1 ~ 5mm, the tube voltage is 60, 80, 100, 120 kVp and the tube current is 20, 40 mAs. In general photography, Tungsten showed better shielding rate compared to Brass, Copper, and Lead protective tools under all irradiation conditions, and in particular, Tungsten 5 mm showed 100% shielding rate. The 3D-printed tungsten mixed filament shielding is expected to be used as a new shield that can replace the existing lead protection tools as it shows a better shielding rate than the existing lead protection tools in Radiography.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2015

In this study, the authors attempted to produce a medical radiation shielding fiber that can be produced at a nanosize scale and that is, unlike lead, harmless to the human body. The performance of the proposed medical radiation shielding fiber was then evaluated. First, diamagnetic bismuth oxide, an element which, among elements that have a high atomic number and density, is harmless to the human body, was selected as the shielding material. Next, 10-100 nm sized nanoparticles in powder form were prepared by ball milling the bismuth oxide ($Bi_2O_3$), the average particle size of which is $1-500{\mu}m$, for approximately 10 minutes. The manufactured bismuth oxide was formed into a colloidal solution, and the radiation shielding fabric was fabricated by curing after coating the solution on one side or both sides of the fabric. The thicknesses of the shielding sheets prepared with bismuth oxide were 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, and 1.0 mm. An experimental method was used to measure the absorbed dose and irradiation dose by using the lead equivalent test method of X-ray protection goods presented by Korean Industrial Standards; the resultant shielding rate was then calculated. From the results of this study, the X-ray shielding effect of the shielding sheet with 0.1 mm thickness was about 55.37% against 50 keV X-ray, and the X-ray shielding effect in the case of 1.0 mm thickness showed shielding characteristics of about 99.36% against 50 keV X-ray. In conclusion, it is considered that nanosized-bismuth radiation shielding fiber developed in this research will contribute to reducing the effects of primary X-ray and secondary X-ray such as when using a scattering beam at a low level exposure.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1642-1651
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• 2021

In this study, isophtalic neopentyl glycol polyester (NPG-PES) based composites with different loading ratios of pure tungsten metal (W), tungsten (VI) oxide (WO₃), tungsten boron (WB) and tungsten carbide (WC) composites were prepared as alternative shielding materials for ionizing electromagnetic radiation (IEMR) shielding. Structural characterizations of the composites were done. Gamma spectrometric analysis of composites for 80-2000 keV energy range was performed and their usability as IEMR shielding was discussed. As a result, the produced composites showed a shielding performance of 60-100% of the lead (the most widely used IEMR shielding material) depending on the reinforcement material, reinforcement loading rate and experimental conditions. Thus, it was reported that produced composites could be an alternative to lead shieldings that have several disadvantages as toxic properties, difficulty of processing and inelasticity.

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

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.755-760
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• 2021

In this study, the shielding rate of major X-ray protective equipment used in the medical environment was calculated using X-ray spectrum data emitted from the diagnostic X-ray generator of The Institute of Physics and Engineering(IPEM) Report-78, and the applicability of radiation protection was investigated. Radiation shielding rates were calculated through reduction rates of air-kerma and total intensity for lead apron (0.3 mmPb), thyroid shield (0.5 mmPb), lead goggles (0.5 mmPb), and lead glass (1.8, 2.7, 3.3 mmPb) used for diagnostic X-ray protection. As a result, the shielding rate calculated as the air kerma reduction rate ranged from 96.31 to 100% at 80 kV, and 90.35 to 100% at 120 kV. In addition, the results of this calculation were well matched with the results of previous studies measuring the actual shielding rate, and it is expected that the X-ray spectrum data of IPEM Report-78 can be used for radiation protection.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.695-700
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• 2013

Thirty-eight radiation safety reports for brachytherapy equipment were evaluated to determine the current status of brachytherapy units in Korea and to assess how radiation oncology departments in Korea complete radiation safety reports. The following data was collected: radiation safety report publication year, brachytherapy unit manufacturer, type and activity of the source that was used, affiliation of the drafter, exposure rate constant, the treatment time used to calculate workload and the HVL values used to calculate shielding design goal values. A significant number of the reports (47.4%) included the personal information of the drafter. The treatment time estimates varied widely from 12 to 2,400 min/week. There was acceptable variation in the exposure rate constant values (ranging between 0.469 and 0.592 ($R{\cdot}m^2/Ci{\cdot}hr$), as well as in the HVLs of concrete, steel and lead for Iridium-192 sources that were used to calculate shielding design goal values. There is a need for standard guidelines for completing radiation safety reports that realistically reflect the current clinical situation of radiation oncology departments in Korea. The present study may be useful for formulating these guidelines.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.451-456
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• 2016

To analyse the absorbed radiation dose of the visual organs (eyes, corneas, lenses) during a head CT scan, a with the purpose of radiation protection was designed. Afterwards, the reduction rate of radiation dose when using an eye-shielding was analyzed. The results showed that the higher the energy, the higher the absorbed dose of the eyes. Excluding the head, the organs with high dose were the eyes, corneas, and lenses, respectively. Furthermore, the dose reduction rate before and after shielding was between 38% and 55% for the eyes, and between 35% and 52% for the corneas. In the case of the lenses, when the front was shielded, the reduction rate was 51%, and when the front and the side were shielded simultaneously, the reduction rate was 67%.