• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.111-115
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• 2016

Background: The scattered photons cause reduction of the contrast of radiographic image and it results in the degradation of the quality of the image. In order to acquire better quality image, an anti-scattering x-ray gird should be equipped in radiography system. Materials and Methods: The X-ray anti-scattering grid of the inclined type based on the hybrid concept for that of parallel and focused type was tested by MCNP code. The MCNPX 2.7.0 was used for the simulation based test. The geometry for the test was based on the IEC 60627 which was an international standard for diagnostic X-ray imaging equipment-Characteristics of general purpose and mammographic anti-scatter grids. Results and Discussion: The performance of grids with four inclined shielding material types was compared with that of the parallel type. The grid with completely tapered type the best performance where there were little performance difference according to the degree of inclination. Conclusion: It was shown that the grid of inclined type had better performance than that of parallel one.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.13-18
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• 2011

In this study, simulations were done of a 661.6 keV line from a point source of $^{137}Cs$ housed in a lead shield. When increasing the scattering angle from 60 to 120 degrees with a 6061 aluminum alloy target placed at angles of 30 and 45 degrees to the incident beam, the spectra showed that the single scattering component increases and that the multiple scattering component decreases. The investigation of the single and multiple scattering components was carried out using a MCNP5 simulation code. The component of the single Compton scattering photons is proportional to the target electron density at the point where the scattering occurs. The single scattering peak increases according to the thickness of the target and saturates at a certain thickness. The signal-to-noise ratio was found to decrease according to the target thickness. The simulation was experimentally validated by measurements. These results will be used to determine the best conditions under which this method can be applied to testing electron densities or to assess the thickness of samples to locate defects in them.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권6호
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• pp.2221-2229
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• 2022

In this research, for improving the measurement performance of Prompt Gamma-ray Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) set-up, a new optimization method for set-up design was proposed and investigated. At first, the calculation method for Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) was proposed. Since the SNR could be calculated and quantified accurately, the SNR was chosen as the evaluation parameter in the new optimization method. For discussing the feasibility of the SNR optimization method, two kinds of PGNAA set-ups were designed in the MCNP code, based on the SNR optimization method and the previous signal optimization method, respectively. Meanwhile, the single element spectra analysis method was proposed, and the analysis effect of single element spectra as well as element sensitivity were used for comparing the measurement performance. Since the simulation results showed the better measurement performance of set-up designed by SNR optimization method, the experimental set-ups were built for the further testing, finally demonstrating the feasibility of the SNR optimization method for PGNAA setup design.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권1호
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• pp.337-343
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• 2021

In this work, self-absorption correction factor related to the variation of the composition and the density of soil samples were evaluated using the p-type HPGe detector. The validated MCNP5 simulation model of this detector was used to evaluate its Full Energy Peak Efficiency (FEPE) under the variation of the composition and the density of the analysed samples. The results indicates that FEPE calculation of low gamma ray is affected by the composition and the density of soil samples. The self-absorption correction factors for different gamma-ray energies which was fitted as a function of FEPEs via density and energy and fitting parameters as polynomial function for the logarithm neper of gamma ray energy help to calculate quickly the detection efficiency of detector. Factor Analysis for the influence of the element composition in analysed samples on the FEPE indicates the FEPE distribution changes from non-metal to metal groups when the gamma ray energy increases from 92 keV to 238 keV. At energies above 238 keV, the FEPE primarily depends only on the metal elements and is significantly affected by aluminium and silicon composition in soil samples.

• 방사선산업학회지
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.29-35
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• 2016

Radiation generating devices must be properly shielded for their safe application. Although institutes such as US National Bureau of Standards and National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) have provided guidelines for shielding X-ray tube of various purposes, industry people tend to rely on 'Half Value Layer (HVL) method' which requires relatively simple calculation compared to the case of those guidelines. The method is based on the fact that the intensity, dose, and air kerma of narrow beam incident on shielding wall decreases by about half as the beam penetrates the HVL thickness of the wall. One can adjust shielding wall thickness to satisfy outside wall dose or air kerma requirements with this calculation. However, this may not always be the case because 1) The strict definition of HVL deals with only Intensity, 2) The situation is different when the beam is not 'narrow'; the beam quality inside the wall is distorted and related changes on outside wall dose or air kerma such as buildup effect occurs. Therefore, sometimes more careful research should be done in order to verify the effect of shielding specific radiation generating device. High energy X-ray tubes which is operated at the voltage above 400 kV that are used for 'heavy' nondestructive inspection is an example. People have less experience in running and shielding such device than in the case of widely-used low energy X-ray tubes operated at the voltage below 300 kV. In this study, Air Kerma value per week, outside concrete shielding wall of various thickness surrounding 450 kVp X-ray tube were calculated using MCNP simulation with the aid of Geometry Splitting method which is a famous Variance Reduction technique. The comparison between simulated result, HVL method result, and NCRP Report 147 safety goal $0.02mGy\;wk^{-1}$ on Air Kerma for the place where the public are free to pass showed that concrete wall of thickness 80 cm is needed to achieve the safety goal. Essentially same result was obtained from the application of HVL method except that it suggest the need of additional 5 cm concrete wall thickness. Therefore, employing the result from HVL method calculation as an conservative upper limit of concrete shielding wall thickness was found to be useful; It would be easy, economic, and reasonable way to set shielding wall thickness.

• 방사선산업학회지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2015

The trend of x-ray image sensor has been evolved from an amorphous silicon sensor to a crystal silicon sensor. A crystal silicon X-ray sensor, meaning a X-ray CIS (CMOS image sensor), is consisted of three transistors (Trs), i.e., a Reset Transistor, a Source Follower and a Select Transistor, and a photodiode. They are highly sensitive to radiation exposure. As the frequency of exposure to radiation increases, the quality of the imaging device dramatically decreases. The most well known effects of a X-ray CIS due to the radiation damage are increments in the reset voltage and dark currents. In this study, a pixel array of a X-ray CIS was made of $20{\times}20pixels$ and this pixel array was exposed to a high radiation dose. The radiation source was Co-60 and the total radiation dose was increased from 1 to 9 kGy with a step of 1 kGy. We irradiated the small pixel array to get the increments data of the reset voltage and the dark currents. Also, we simulated the radiation effects of the pixel by MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) simulation. From the comparison of actual data and simulation data, the most affected location could be determined and the cause of the increments of the reset voltage and dark current could be found.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권5호
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• pp.1436-1443
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• 2019

A fast gamma-ray dose rate assessment method for complex geometries based on stylized model reconstruction and point-kernel method is proposed in this paper. The complex three-dimensional (3D) geometries are imported as a 3DS format file from 3dsMax software with material and radiometric attributes. Based on 3D stylized model reconstruction of solid mesh, the 3D-geometrical solids are automatically converted into stylized models. In point-kernel calculation, the stylized source models are divided into point kernels and the mean free paths (mfp) are calculated by the intersections between shield stylized models and tracing ray. Compared with MCNP, the proposed method can implement complex 3D geometries visually, and the dose rate calculation is accurate and fast.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.173-178
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• 2016

Background: In situ gamma spectrometry has been used to measure environmental radiation, assumptions are usually made about the depth distribution of the radionuclides of interest in the soil. The main limitation of in situ gamma spectrometry lies in determining the depth distribution of radionuclides. The objective of this study is to develop a method for subsurface characterization by in situ measurement. Materials and Methods: The peak to valley method based on the ratio of counting rate between the photoelectric peak and Compton region was applied to identify the depth distribution. The peak to valley method could be applied to establish the relation between the spectrally derived coefficients (Q) with relaxation mass per unit area (${\beta}$) for various depth distribution in soil. The in situ measurement results were verified by MCNP simulation and calculated correlation equation. In order to compare the depth distributions and contamination levels in decommissioning KRR site, in situ measurement and sampling results were compared. Results and Discussion: The in situ measurement results and MCNP simulation results show a good correlation for laboratory measurement. The simulation relationship between Q and source burial for the source layers have exponential relationship for a variety depth distributions. We applied the peak to valley method to contaminated decommissioning KRR site to determine a depth distribution and initial activity without sampling. The observed results has a good correlation, relative error between in situ measurement with sampling result is around 7% for depth distribution and 4% for initial activity. Conclusion: In this study, the vertical activity distribution and initial activity of $^{137}Cs$ could be identifying directly through in situ measurement. Therefore, the peak to valley method demonstrated good potential for assessment of the residual radioactivity for site remediation in decommissioning and contaminated site.

• 한국방사선학회논문지
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.415-427
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• 2021

한국원자력의학원에서는 50 MeV 사이클로트론의 빔 라인을 이용하여 연구자들에게 다양한 빔 조사 서비스를 수행하고 있다. 특히 중성자 빔 서비스는 양성자와 베릴륨의 핵반응을 이용하기 때문에 높은 전류를 사용하므로 조사 시료의 방사화 가능성이 높아진다. 본 연구에서는 연구자들이 선호하는 35 MeV 20 ㎂ 중성자 빔 서비스에 의해 발생 가능한 방사화에 대해 MCNP 6.2와 FISPACT-II 4.0을 이용해 평가했다. 평가결과 철, 구리, 텅스텐 시료는 1시간 이상 조사하는 경우 장반감기 핵종이 생성되는 방사화가 발생하여 자체처분농도를 초과했다. 매일 2시간 사용 조건에서 건축물에 대한 방사화는 발생하지 않았고 조사실 내부 공기의 방사화로 인한 종사자의 내부피폭은 매우 미비했고, 이 공기를 배기하는 경우 배출기준도 만족했다.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제48권1호
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• pp.44-51
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• 2023

Background: Aptamers are currently being used in various fields including medical treatments due to their characteristics of selectively binding to specific molecules. Due to their special characteristics, the aptamers are expected to be used to remove radionuclides from a large amount of liquid radioactive waste generated during the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The radiological effects on the aptamers should be evaluated to ensure their integrity for the application of a radionuclide removal technique. Materials and Methods: In this study, Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code version 6 (MCNP6) and Monte Carlo damage simulation (MCDS) codes were employed to evaluate the radiological effects on the aptamers. MCNP6 was used to evaluate the secondary electron spectrum and the absorbed dose in a medium. MCDS was used to calculate the DNA damage by using the secondary electron spectrum and the absorbed dose. Binding experiments were conducted to indirectly verify the results derived by MCNP6 and MCDS calculations. Results and Discussion: Damage yields of about 5.00×10^-4 were calculated for 100 bp aptamer due to the radiation dose of 1 Gy. In experiments with radioactive materials, the results that the removal rate of the radioactive ⁶⁰Co by the aptamer is the same with the non-radioactive ⁵⁹Co prove the accuracy of the previous DNA damage calculation. Conclusion: The evaluation results suggest that only very small fraction of significant number of the aptamers will be damaged by the radioactive materials in the liquid radioactive waste.