• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.529-540
• /
• 1999

As part of IAEA CRP on "Compilation and evaluation of photonuclear data for applications", we evaluated photoproduction data of Mo, Zn, S and Cl isotopes for medical use and biological applications. Available experimental data were collected and their discrepancies were analyzed to select or reconstruct the representative data set. The photoabsorption cross sections were then evaluated tv applying the Giant Dipole Resonance (GDR) model for the energies below about 30 MeV and the quasi-deuteron model for energies below 140 MeV. The resulting representative photoabsorption data were given as input for the theoretical calculations for the emission process of light nuclei including neutron, proton, deuteron, triton, $^3He$, alpha particles and gamma rays by use of the Hauser-Feshbach and the preequilibrium model.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.286-290
• /
• 2016

Background: Activation of air and water in the electron linear accelerator for medical use has not been considered severely. By the new Japanese regulation for protection of radiation hazard, it became indispensable to evaluate of activation of air and water in the accelerator room. The measurement of induced activity in air and water components in the electron energy region of 10 to 20 MeV is very difficult, because this energy region is close to the threshold energy region of photonuclear reactions. Then, we measured the photonuclear reaction yields of $^{13}N$, $^{15}O$, and $^{11}C$ by using the electron linear accelerator. Obtained data were compared with the data calculated by the Monte Carlo method. Materials and Methods: An activation experiment was performed at the Research Center for Electron Photon Science, Tohoku University. Highly purified $SiO_2$, $Si_3N_4$, and carbon disks were irradiated for 10 minutes by bremsstrahlung converted by a tungsten plate. Induced activity from C, N, and O was obtained. Monte Carlo calculation was performed using MCNP5 and AERY (DCHAIN-SP) to simulate the experimental condition. Cross section data were adopted the KAERI dataset. Results and Discussion: In our experiment in hospital, calculated values were not agreed with experimental values. It might be three possible reasons as the cause of this deference, such as irradiation energy, calculation procedure and cross section data. Obtained data of this work, calculated and experimental values were good agreement with each other within one order. In this work, we used KAERI dataset of photonuclear reaction instead of JENDL. Therefore, it was found that the photonuclear cross section data of light elements are most important for yield calculation in these reactions. Conclusion: Further improvement for calculation using a new dataset JENDL/PD-2015 and considering electron energy spreading will be needed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.249-254
• /
• 2014

Medical linear accelerator is used for radiotherapy since it was developed in 1952, the utilization rate is further increased. It is used high energy radiotherapy using the energy of the photon of 6 MeV or more is universal at present, but the creation of the neutron by photonuclear reaction cause a problem that is radiation exposure of patients and operators. Therefore, in this study, to analyze the spectrum of the photon beam of 6 to 24 MV that occurred in the medical linear accelerator using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX, the number of photons of 7.41 MeV or more, which is a neutron production threshold energy of tungsten and average energy. The result of 24 MV in the beginning and the 8 MV was 0.59% of the total number of detected photons and it was founded that the number of photons are increased which are possible to cause the photonuclear reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.245-249
• /
• 2013

Neutron sources from photonuclear reaction with 46-MeV electron linear accelerator at Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University used for resonance energy measurement of natural tantalum. BGO($Bi_4Ge_3O_{12}$) scintillation detectors used for measurement of the prompt gamma ray from the natural tantalum sample. The BGO spectrometer was composed geometrically as total energy absorption detector. The electric signal from the spectrometer was analyzed for TOF(Time-of-Flight) spectrum which is used identification of neutron capture resonance energy. In this study, the neutron energy region is from 1 to 200 eV, because of strong X-ray effect produced photonuclear reaction in Ta target, the measurement was performed to below 1 keV energy region. The resonance energy was compared with the evaluated values(ENDF/B-VI, Mughabghab). All of the resonances from 4.28 ~ 200 eV were seen in the present measurement except 144.3 eV resonance.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.15 no.12
• /
• pp.347-354
• /
• 2015

Hypofractionated radiotherapy prescribes high dose once. Due to this there's a bad point that patients are exposed much dose in normal organ. But recently the study making up for a limit is continuing. Cause of preference of this kind of development of therapy technic and high-energy photon beam, patients can be exposed to additional radiation. Because photoneutron is created by photonuclear reaction. So, in this study I measured photoneutron and analyzed by DVH amounts of radiation from the treatment plan that was used to acute, metastatic pelvis cancer patients who was treated by hypofractionated radiotherapy applied IMRT. As a result, incidence of photoneutron based on the hypofractionated radiotherapy was not a big difference in proportion to the dose fractionation. Protective effects of normal organ by hypofractionated radiotherapy applying IMRT is relatively high compared to 3D CRT but also photoneutron was in created. So a proper treatment plan and a best therapy should be considerated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.54 no.2
• /
• pp.507-513
• /
• 2022

When X-ray energy above 8 MV is used, photoneutrons are generated by the photonuclear reaction, which activates the components of linear accelerator (linac). Safely managing the radioactive material, when disposing linac or replacing components, is difficult, as the standards for the radioactive material management are not clear in Korea. We surveyed the management status of radioactive components occurred from medical linacs in Korea. And we also measured the activation of each part of the discarded Elekta linac using a survey meter and portable High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. We found that most medical institutions did not perform radiation measurements when disposing of radioactive components. The radioactive material was either stored within the institution or collected by the manufacturer. The surface dose rate measurements showed that the parts with high surface dose rates were target, primary collimator, and multileaf collimator (MLC). ⁶⁰Co nuclide was detected in most parts, whereas for the target, ⁶⁰Co and ¹⁸⁴Re nuclides were detected. Results suggest that most institutions in Korea did not have the regulations for disposing radioactive waste from linac or the management procedures and standards were unclear. Further studies are underway to evaluate short-lived radionuclides and to lay the foundation for radioactive waste management from medical linacs.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.72-80
• /
• 2017

Gamma-ray has some advantages as a weapon: it has the ability to transmutate matter, high penetrability through materials, and it is very harmful to living things. So it is worth to study the features of gamma-ray weapon in order to utilize it. Such abilities were simulated on the basis of Monte Carlo simulation program GEANT4. For the simulation conceptual design of gamma-ray weapon was conducted. High energy electrons, which were necessary for the high energy gamma-rays, were produced by linear electron accelerator, of which the parameters were derived from the Pohang Light Source(PLS-II). Gamma-rays were get by bremsstrahlung mechanism. The spectra of gamma-rays, that were measured at distances of 500 m, 1000 m, 1500 m and 2000 m, were gained by GEANT4.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.6 no.5
• /
• pp.403-408
• /
• 2012

Prompt gamma ray from the natural Indium sample was measured by using an assembly of BGO($Bi_4Ge_3O_{12}$) scintillation detectors in the neutron energy region from 1 to 300 eV. The assembly was composed of pieces of BGO. The spectrometer was composed geometrically as total energy absorption detector. 46-MeV electron linear accelerator which is located at Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University used for neutron sources from photonuclear reaction. The measurement of the neutron capture resonances was performed to below neutron energy 1 keV, because of strong X-ray effect from photonuclear reaction in Ta target and short distance from the target to an assembly of detector. The distance of neutron flight path is $12.7{\pm}0.02m$. The large neutron capture resonances were measured from 1 to 400 eV. The energy in the capture resonance was compared with the evaluated values. The large resonances were seen in the present measurement. General agreement can be seen between the present measurement and the previous evaluated data in relevant energy region. In the present study, we measured the continues resonance structure above 1 keV neutron energy region. 91.49 eV new neutron capture resonance was found in present measurement.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.223-231
• /
• 2014

Medical linear accelerator is widely used in radiation treatment field, and high energy photons, above 10 MV nominal accelerator voltage, are commonly utilized for the radiation treatment. However, these high energy photons lead the photo-nuclear reaction and the generation of photo-neutrons are accompanied. Thus, these problematic factors are issued in the view of radiation protection. Therefore, linear accelerator and radiation treatment room are simulated from MCNPX program in this study. The measurement points of interest are selected and analyzed, and the resulting effects derived from the properties of photo-neutron are evaluated. Therefore, we realized that the number of generating photo-neutrons was decreased by depending on the distance from the source. No matter what the nominal energy is set, the rates thermal neutrons to fast neutrons are marginal. It is founded that the amount of the thermal neutrons were decreased by depending on the distance from the source.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.145-152
• /
• 2021

Purpose: During the treatments of cancer patients with a linear accelerator (LINAC) using photon beams with energies ≥8 MV, the components inside the LINAC head get activated through the interaction of photonuclear reaction (γ, n) and neutron capture (n, γ). We used spectroscopy and measured the dose rate for the LINAC in operation after the treatment ended. Methods: We performed spectroscopy and dose rate measurements for three units of LINACs with a portable high-purity Germanium (HPGe) detector and a survey meter. The spectra were obtained after the beams were turned off. Spectroscopy was conducted for 3,600 seconds, and the dose rate was measured three times. We identified the radionuclides for each LINAC. Results: According to gamma spectroscopy results, most of the nuclides were short-lived radionuclides with half-lives of 100 days, except for ⁶⁰Co, ⁶⁵Zn, and ¹⁸¹W nuclides. The dose rate for three LINACs obtained immediately in front of the crosshair was in the range of 0.113 to 0.129 µSv/h. The maximum and minimum dose rates measured on weekends were 0.097 µSv/h and 0.092 µSv/h, respectively. Compared with the differences in weekday data, there was no significant difference between the data measured on Saturday and Sunday. Conclusions: Most of the detected radionuclides had half-lives <100 days, and the dose rate decreased rapidly. For equipment that primarily used energies ≤10 MV, when the equipment was transferred after at least 10 minutes after shutting it down, it is expected that there will be little effect on the workers' exposure.