Investigation of Scattered Radiation Dose at the Door of a Radiotherapy Vault When the Maze Intersects the Primary Beam

Abstract

NCRP 151 provides very detailed examples demonstrating the necessary concerns for shielding a conventional radiotherapy vault with a maze where the useful beam is parallel to the maze. However, it provides little guidance on how to properly shield a vault with the maze-wall acting as part of a compound primary barrier. We have modeled a new radiotherapy vault with this configuration and assessed the additional photon shielding burden at the door with MCNP5. MCNP simulations demonstrated an increase in overall photon shielding burden at the door relative to calculations that only consider photon workloads presented in NCRP 151. Two additional components of scattered radiation are considered and methods for calculation are presented.