Desgin and characterization of concrete/lead shielding for 225 KVp X-ray beamline

L. FISCHER; P. PÉREZ

Temuco

Conferencia; VI CONFERENCIA DE FÍSICA MÉDICA EN LA FRONTERA; 2018

Ionizing radiation are commonly used for a wide range of applications, including medical, industrial and academic purposes. As known, exposition to ionizing radiation involves inherent hazard, which must be accounted before, during and after source employment. In this context, facility design specifying shielding requirements represents one of the most important and chronologically initial procedures aimed at achieving adequate radiation protection levels.This work resumes the more relevant considerations and actions followed during the design, construction and further characterization of all radiation protection issues involved for the conditioning of a research room, at underground level, devote to operating a 225kVp X-ray source.Preliminary design was carried out assisted by Monte Carlo simulations performed with the FLUKA main code determining primary/secondary radiation fluences; whereas direct exposure characterization was carried out using calibrated Geiger detectors. The obtained results highlight the reliability of the adapted Monte Carlo subroutine and demonstrate that very good radiation protection levels were achieved for all rooms and sectors were people are present.