• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2021

Proton therapy using the Bragg peak is one of the radiation therapies and can deliver its maximum energy to the tumor with giving least energy for normal tissue. A cross-sectional image of the human body taken with the computed tomography (CT) has been used for radiation therapy planning. The HU values change according to the tube voltage, which lead to the change in the boundary and thickness of the anatomical structure on the CT image. This study examined the changes in the Bragg peak of the brain region according to the thickness variation in the head phantom composed of several materials using the Geant4. In the phantom composed of a single material, the Bragg peak according to the type of media and the incident energy of the proton beams were calculated, and the reliability of Geant4 code was verified by the Bragg peak. The variation of the peak in the brain region was examined when each thickness of the head phantom was changed. When the thickness of the soft tissue was changed, there was no change in the peak position, and for the skin the change in the peak was small. The change of the peak position was mainly changed when the bone thickness. In particular, when the bone was changed only or the bone was changed together with other tissues, the amount of change in the peak position was the same. It is considered that measurement of the accurate bone thickness in CT images is one of the key factors in depth-dose distribution of the radiation therapy planning.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.189-195
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• 2017

Radiation protection equipment has widely used to protect human body from radiations, for example X-ray and gamma ray. The material of the radiation protection equipment is mainly lead (Pb) which has brought out lead poisoning and pollution when the equipment is fallen into disuse. This problem makes research and development find new Pb-free materials for use of radiation protection. Manufacturing and evaluation processes for developing those material were carried out repletely until obtaining the performance of protection rate. In this study, combination possibility of shielding material was studied using Geant4 monte carlo simulation. X-ray tube under the same condition in the real measurement of the protection rate was simulated, and X-ray tube spectrum was obtained. The X-ray tube spectrum was applied to study on the protection rate and lead equivalent. The porosity effect was simulated, and was one of key factors to determine protection rate or lead equivalent in radiation protection sheet of Pb-free.

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

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2767-2773
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• 2021

We used the GEANT4 Monte Carlo MC Toolkit to simulate carbon ion beams incident on water, tissue, and bone, taking into account nuclear fragmentation reactions. Upon increasing the energy of the primary beam, the position of the Bragg-Peak transfers to a location deeper inside the phantom. For different materials, the peak is located at a shallower depth along the beam direction and becomes sharper with increasing electron density NZ. Subsequently, the generated depth dose of the Bragg curve is then benchmarked with experimental data from GSI in Germany. The results exhibit a reasonable correlation with GSI experimental data with an accuracy of between 0.02 and 0.08 cm, thus establishing the basis to adopt MC in heavy-ion treatment planning. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov K-S test further ascertained from a statistical point of view that the simulation data matched the experimentally measured data very well. The two-dimensional isodose contours at the entrance were compared to those around the peak position and in the tail region beyond the peak, showing that bone produces more dose, in comparison to both water and tissue, due to secondary doses. In the water, the results show that the maximum energy deposited per fragment is mainly attributed to secondary carbon ions, followed by secondary boron and beryllium. Furthermore, the number of protons produced is the highest, thus making the maximum contribution to the total dose deposition in the tail region. Finally, the associated spectra of neutrons and photons were analyzed. The mean neutron energy value was found to be 16.29 MeV, and 1.03 MeV for the secondary gamma. However, the neutron dose was found to be negligible as compared to the total dose due to their longer range.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.647-653
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• 2020

Stainless steel is used commonly in nuclear applications for shielding radiation, so in this study, three different types of new stainless steel samples were designed and developed. New stainless steel compound ratios were determined by using Monte Carlo Simulation program Geant 4 code. In the sample production, iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr), silicium (Si), sulphur (S), carbon (C), molybdenum (Mo), manganese (Mn), wolfram (W), rhenium (Re), titanium (Ti) and vanadium (V), powder materials were used with powder metallurgy method. Total macroscopic cross sections, mean free path and transmission number were calculated for the fast neutron radiation shielding by using (Geant 4) code. In addition to neutron shielding, the gamma absorption parameters such as mass attenuation coefficients (MACs) and half value layer (HVL) were calculated using Win-XCOM software. Sulfuric acid abrasion and compressive strength tests were carried out and all samples showed good resistance to acid wear and pressure force. The neutron equivalent dose was measured using an average 4.5 MeV energy fast neutron source. Results were compared to 316LN type stainless steel, which commonly used in shielding radiation. New stainless steel samples were found to absorb neutron better than 316LN stainless steel at both low and high temperatures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.3164-3170
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• 2021

The increasing interest that GEANT4 is gaining nowadays, because of its special capabilities, prompted us to address its reliability in neutronic calculation for the realistic and complex spallation target MEGAPIE of the Paul Scherrer Institute of Switzerland. In this paper we have specifically addressed the neutronic characterization of the active zone of this target. Three physical quantities are evaluated: neutron flux spectra and total neutron fluxes on target's z-axis, and the neutron yield as a function of the target's altitude and radius. Comparison of the obtained results with those of the MCNPX reference code and some experimental measurements have confirmed the impact of the geometrical and proton beam models on the neutron fluxes. It has also allowed to reveal the intrinsic influence of the code type. The resulting differences reach a factor of ~2 for the beam model and 4-18% for the other parameters cumulated. The analysis of the neutron yield has led us to conclude that: 1) Increasing the productivity of the MEGAPIE target cannot be achieved simply by increasing the thickness of the target, if the irradiation parameters are not modified. 2) The size of the spallation area needs to be redefined more precisely.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.1456-1463
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• 2022

The aim of this work is to study the radiation shielding properties of cement samples with waste glass incortated into its composition. The mass attenuation coefficient (MAC) of the samples were experimentally determined to evaluate their radiation shielding ability. The experimental coefficient was evaluated using NaI detector for gamma energies between 59.53 keV and 1408.01 keV using different radioactive point sources Am-241, Eu-152, Co-60, and Cs-137, and the gamma transmission parameters half-value layer, mean free path, and transmission factor were calculated. The theoretical coefficient of the composites was determined using Geant4 and XCOM software. The results were also compared against Geant4 and XCOM simulations by calculating the relative deviation between the values to determine the accuracy of the results. In addition the mechanical properties (including Compressive and porosity) as well as the thermogravimetric analysis were tested for the present samples. Overall, it was concluded that the cement sample with 50% waste glass has the greatest shielding potential for radiation shielding applications and is a useful way to reuse waste glass.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.311-322
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• 2010

In proton therapy, the analysis of secondary particles is important due to delivered dose outside the target volume and thus increased potential risk for the development of secondary cancer. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of secondary particles from proton beams on fluence and energy deposition in the presence of inhomogeneous material by using Geant4 simulation toolkit. The inhomogeneity was modeled with the condition that the adipose tissue, bone and lung equivalent slab with thickness of 2 cm were inserted at 30% (Plateau region) and 80% (Bragg peak region) dose points of maximum dose in Bragg curve. The energy of proton was varied with 100, 130, 160 and 190 MeV for energy dependency. The results for secondary particles were presented for the fluence and deposited energy of secondary particles at inhomogeneous condition. Our study demonstrates that the fluence of secondary particles is neither influenced insertion of inhomogeneties nor the energy of initial proton, while there is a little effect by material density. The deposited energy of secondary particles has a difference in the position placed inhomogeneous materials. In the Plateau region, deposited energy of secondary particles mostly depends on the density of inserted materials. Deposited energy in the Bragg region, in otherwise, is influenced by both density of inserted material and initial energy of proton beams. Our results suggest a possibility of prediction about the distribution of secondary particles within complex heterogeneity.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.191-196
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• 2012

A double-scattering type Compton camera which is appropriate to imaging a high-energy gamma source has been developed for nuclear material surveillance at Hanyang University. The double-scattering type Compton camera can provide high imaging resolution; however, it has disadvantage of relatively low imaging sensitivity than existing single-scattering type Compton camera. In this study, we introduce a novel concept of a dual-mode Compton camera which incorporates two different types of Compton camera, i.e., single- and double-scattering type. The dual-mode Compton camera can operate high-resolution mode and high-sensitivity mode in a single system. To maximize its performance, the geometrical configuration was optimized by using Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation toolkit. In terms of imaging sensitivity, high-sensitivity mode had higher sensitivity than high-resolution mode up to 100 times while high imaging resolution of the double-scattering Compton camera was maintained.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.239-246
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• 2021

Portal Dosimetry was verified using EPID to secure the clinical application and reliability of the existing research dose evaluation. The dose distribution of Geant4 was compared with the measured value by 360° rotational irradiation with a 2.5 cm cone for stereotactic brain surgery. To confirm the dose distribution of patients with brain metastasis, the dose distribution investigated by inserting a Gafchromic EBT film into the parietal phantom and the dose distribution obtained from the parietal phantom using VMAT are compared and applied to actual patients. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that the accuracy of the beam center and the center of the couch coincide accurately with an error within 1mm as a result of QA through a pin ball. In addition, it was confirmed that the EBT3 film has excellent linearity in the range of 0 to 10 Gy according to various dose irradiation. In the same setting as the two cervical phantoms, we confirm that the implementation and simulation results calculations of dose calculations based on Geant4 using photon beams match the experimental data within the treatment planning volume (PTV). Therefore, volume modulated arc treatment (VMAT) 360° rotational irradiation was performed, and the result of iso-dose distribution analysis by rotational irradiation confirmed that it is appropriate to include a virtual tumor.