Radiation protection

Dr. Raman Narang

Introduction
Becoming more important as there is
increasing use in public, health and
military domains
Humans can be exposed to
radiation :
1. Occupational exposure
2. Medical exposure
3. Public exposure

Effects of radiation exposure

Divided into
1. Stochastic effects
2. Deterministic effects

Stochastic effects
No threshold levels of radiation dose
Definite latent period for appearance
after exposure
Probability of induction increases
with the dose received
Severity of effect independent of
dose effect
E.g carcinogenesis
Hereditary effects

Deterministic effects
Have definite threshold levels
Severity of effect dependent on dose
E.g - skin erythema: 2-5Gy
sterility 2-3Gy
cataracts: 5Gy
fetal abnormality: 0.1-0.5Gy

Radiation protection
quantities
The absorbed dose is not a satisfactory
parameter for radiation protection
Effect is not the same on the organs for
different types of ionizing radiation
Therefore to quantify the biologic and
pysical effect of the radiation:Organ dose
Equivalent dose
Effective dose

Organ dose
Defined as mean dose in a specified
tissue/organ
Unit is cGy/kg

Equivalent dose
Defined as the product of absorbed
dose and weighting factor/quality
factor for the radiation
H = DxQ
Unit = Sv
If the absorbed dose in rad(1 rad =
0.01Gy), them rem

 It is not dependent on the type of

tissue
Dependent only on type of radiation

Radiation weighting factor

Radiation

Quality Factor

X-rays, rays, and

electrons

Thermal neutrons

Neutrons, heavy
particles

20

Effective dose
Sum of weighted dose equivalent for
irradiated tissues or organs
The weighting factors represent the
proportionate risk (stochastic) of
tissue when the body is irradiated
uniformly

Principles of radiation
protection

DOSE
LIMT

Justifiable exposure
It states that radiation should only be
adopted if it yields sufficient benefit
to the exposed to outweigh the
harmful effects of radiation

Dose limits
The dose equivalent to individuals shall not
exceed the limits as recommended
NCRP recommendations on exposure limits of
radiation workers are based on the following
criteria:
(a) at low radiation levels the nonstochastic
effects are essentially avoided
(b) the predicted risk for stochastic effects should
not be greater than the average risk of
accidental death among workers in safe
industries

(c) the ALARA principle should be

followed.

Occupational and Public Dose

Limits
These limits do not include exposure
received from medical procedures or
the natural background
Radiation workers are limited to an
annual effective dose equivalent of 50
mSv (5 rem)
the general public is not to exceed
one tenth of this value (0.5 rem) for
infrequent exposure

 Students under the age of 18 who

may be exposed to radiation as a
result of their educational or training
activities should not receive more
than 1 mSv (0.1 rem) per year.

Dose Limits for Pregnant

Women
The total dose-equivalent limit to an
embryo-fetus is 5 mSv (0.5 rem), with
the added recommendation that
exposure to the fetus should not exceed
0.5 mSv (0.05 rem) in any 1 month.
it is recommended to assign pregnant
workers to duties that involve potential
exposure much lower than the
recommended limit.

Negligible Individual Risk

Level
a level of average annual excess risk of
fatal health effects attributable to
irradiation, below which further effort to
reduce radiation exposure to the individual
is unwarranted
applied to radiation protection because of
the need for having a reasonably negligible
risk level that can be considered as a
threshold below which efforts to reduce the
risk further would not be warranted.

ALARA
As Low As Reasonably Achievable
principle of limiting the dose of
exposed persons to levels as low as is
reasonably achievable, taking into
account economic and social factors.
In therapeutic medical procedures ,
optimization is achieved by keeping
ALARA consistent with delivering the
required dose to the PTV

Maximum permissible dose

NCRP dose in the light of present
knowledge is not expected to cause
appreciable bodily injury to the
person at any point during his
lifetime

 Whole body radiation from external sources upto

5 rem per year
Maximum limit of occupational exposure of 12
rem in a year if :Dose did not exceed the limit of 5 rems in the
previous year
Adequate past record of exposure present
Accumulated MPD = 5(age in years-18)
Doses to persons living close to radiation sources
but outside controlled areass not to exceed 1/10th
of those proposed for occupational exposure

MPD - Radionuclides
0.5rem/year for an individual(1/10th
of the occupational limit)
0.17rem/year for the
population(1/30th of the occupational
limit)

As Low as Practicable
Used primarily for low level radiation
exposure due to leakage from
nuclear reactors
Means that the radiation exposure
was to be kept as low as possible
practically from these reactors

Structural shielding design

maze arrangement
in treatment room.

General design guidelines

Usually located at the periphery of the hospital
avoids the problem of therapy rooms being
adjacent to high occupancy areas
Ground level preferred as the problem of
shielding the floor is less
Areas around the machine shoulf be designated
as controlled areass
Mazes should be present
Doors should be provided at the mazee
entrance so that casual entry of public can be
avoided

 Interlocks should be provided so that

the beam may be turned off when
the door is opened
The control console should be
provided with devices to keep a
watch on the patient at all times.

 Basic parameters that influence the

exposure that an individual receives
in a radiation field
1. Time longer the time spent in the
radiation field, greater the exposure

2) Distance exposure decreases as a

function of square of the distance
from the radiation source

3) Shielding exposure can be reduced

by attenuating the primary beam by
shielding

Types of radiation
Primary radiation radiation which
is directly emitted from the
treatment machine through the
collimator opening in the case of
external sources and from the
radioactive source in case of
brachytherapy

 Scatter radiation produced by scattering of

primary radiation
assumed to come from the patient
the lower the radiation energy, the more of a
concern for photon beams
Factors affecting amount of scattered radiation
Beam intensity
Quality of radiation
The area of the beam at scatterer
The scattering angle

 Leakage radiation - radiation that

escapes through the shielded head of
the therapy
LINAC - leakage radiation exist only
during the time beam is on
Cobalt units - leakage radiation
always present

Types of barrier
Primary barrier it protects againt the
primary radiation
Eg. concrete or lead or steel
Because concrete is relatively cheap, the
walls and roof barriers are usually
constructed out of concrete.
For megavoltage x- and radiation,
equivalent thickness of various materials
can be calculated by comparing tenth value
layers (TVLs) for the given beam energy.

 Secondary barrier protect against

the scattered and leakage radiation

Door Shielding
The required door shielding
barrier transmission factor BS by tracing
different path of the scattered radiation
The attenuation curve of 500 kVp is used

In most cases, the required thickness

of door shielding is < 6 mm lead

Factors associated with the calculation of barrier thickness

Workload (W)
Use factor (U)
Occupancy factor (T)
Distance (d)

 Workload refers to the typical

radiation output from a source per
week at a well designated point
Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy
(IMRT) deliver a radiation field in many
field segments
Therefore, many more monitor units
are delivered per field than in
conventional radiotherapy

 Use factor - Refer to the number of times

in a day the radiation beam directed
towards the barrier
Typical use Factor for Primary
Protective Barriers
Location
Use Factor
Floor
1

Walls

Ceiling
-

 Occupancy factor
Fraction of the operating time during
which the area of interest is occupied
by the individual

Protection against Neutrons

Neutron contamination
High energy photon (> 10 MV) or electrons incident
on the various materials of target, flattening filter,
collimators and other shielding components
Increase rapidly in the range of 10 20 MV beam
energy
The energy spectrum of emitted neutrons
Within the beam : range 1 MeV
Inside of the maze: few fast neutrons (> 0.1 MeV)

 Protection against neutrons should be

considered in door shielding only
1 and 2 barriers for x-ray shielding are adequate
Solution
Increase reflection from the walls by accelerator
configuration
Longer maze (> 5 m)(reduces fluence)
Add a hydrogenous material (e.g. polyethylene, few inches)
Add steel or lead sheet

Radiation protection surveys in the

department
Radiation Monitoring
Instruments
Ionization Chamber
Geiger-Mller Counters
Neutron Detectors
Equipment Survey
Area Survey
Personnel monitoring

Background Radiation
Radiation from the natural environment
Terrestrial radiation
e.g. elevation level of radon in many building
Emitted by naturally ocurring 238U in soil
Annual dose equivalent to bronchial epithelium = 24 mSv (2.4
rem)

Cosmic radiation
e.g. air travel
At 30,000 feet, the dose equivalent is about 0.5 mrem/h

Radiation element in our bodies

e.g. mainly from 40K
Emits , rays; T1/2 = 1.3 109 years

 Thank you