Journal of Radiation Protection and Research

The Korean Association for Radiation Protection (대한방사선방어학회)
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Assessment of Counting Efficiency of a Whole Body Counter by Human Body Size and Standing Position Using Monte Carlo Method

몬테카를로 방법론을 이용한 측정 대상의 인체 크기와 측정 위치에 따른 전신계수기 계수효율 평가

  • Received : 2013.12.02
  • Accepted : 2014.01.29
  • Published : 2014.03.31
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Abstract

For the case of radiation emergency, it is required to assess internal contamination of the public, including children as well as adults. The objective of the present study was to assess counting efficiency of a whole body counter by human body size and standing position of the measurement person. In this study, the FASTSCAN whole body counter used at National Radiation Emergency Medical Center of Korean Institute of Radiological and Medical Science was simulated by a radiation transport computer code. The simulation results of the counting efficiencies agreed well with measurements within the 2% of discrepancy for 4-year child and 5% for adults. The standing positions of the people were adjusted by body size to find the consistent trend of the counting efficiencies by human body size. Body size scaling factors of the whole body counter were derived to consider human body size and improve the measurement accuracy. The counting efficiency assessment methodology in this study can be successively used to improve the measurement accuracy when using a whole body counter for the case of radiation emergency.

방사선사고 시 내부오염 평가대상의 범위는 성인뿐만 아니라 소아까지 전 연령층으로 확대된다. 본 연구에서는 전신계수기의 측정 정확도를 향상시키기 위해 측정대상의 인체 크기와 측정 위치에 따른 계수효율을 평가하였다. 본 연구에서는 한국원자력의학원에서 사용하는 전신계수기인 FASTSCAN에 대해 방사선수송코드를 이용하여 전산 모사하였다. 측정한 계수효율과 계산한 계수효율의 상대편중은 4세 소아의 경우 2% 이하이였으며, 성인의 경우에도 5% 이하로 일치하였다. 측정 대상의 키가 작을수록 검출기와의 거리가 멀어지는 문제를 보완하고 인체 크기에 따른 계수효율의 일관적인 경향성을 도출하기 위해, 측정대상의 측정 위치를 조절하여 전신계수기의 계수효율을 평가하였다. 조절된 측정 위치에서의 전신계수기 계수효율을 바탕으로 측정 대상의 인체 크기 차이에 의한 내부오염도 평가 시 측정 오차를 줄일 수 있는 인체 크기 보정인자를 도출하였다. 도출된 보정인자는 전신계수기 측정결과에 곱하여 측정대상의 내부오염도를 쉽게 평가할 수 있으며, 궁극적으로 방사선사고 시 전신계수기를 이용한 내부오염도의 측정 정확도를 크게 향상시킬 수 있을 것이다.

Keywords

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