Study on the optimization of radiation protection for therapeutic proton synchrotron

Objective To investigate the effect of iron shield at different depths within main protection wall on the dose rate outside the protection wall. Methods By adopting the FLUKA code, a therapeutic room model was constructed with its primary protective barrier consisting of concrete and iron. In order to obtain its ambient dose equivalent rate distribution, the 250 MeV protons and 220 MeV protons impinging on water phantom were simulated separately. Results With varying depth of iron plate embedded in barrier, the ambient dose equivalent rates in the two simulated conditions differed sinificantly at 30 cm outside the protection wall. The maximum ambient dose equivalent rate(220 MeV: 3.42 μSv/h, 250 MeV: 6.39 μSv/h) was more than 2 times higher than the minimum ambient dose equivalent rate(220 MeV: 1.75 μSv/h, 250 MeV: 3.32 μSv/h). Conclusions In the design of therapeutic proton accelerator, it is essential to evaluate carefully the location where the iron shield is in main protection wall. Key words: Monte Carlo simulation; Therapeutic proton accelerator; Barrier; Ambient dose equivalent rate