Basic Principles of Radiation

Therapy Shielding Design

Peter J. Biggs Ph.D.,

Massachusetts General Hospital,
Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA 02114

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Outline
1 Basic principles and definitions
2 Calculations
3 Workload, use and occupancy factors
4 Shielding materials
5 Tenth value layers (TVL)
6 Room layout & features, construction details
7 Neutrons & laminated barriers
8 Mazes and doors
9 Ducts

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Definitions
P: Weekly design dose limit (Sv/wk)
d: Distance from target to measurement point
W: Workload (Gy/wk)
U: Use Factor
T: Occupancy factor
a: Scatter fraction; (, E)
dsec: Distance from scatterer to measurement point
dsca: Distance from target to scatterer
dl: Distance from the target to measurement point
F: Area of the beam in the plane of the scatterer (cm2)
B: Barrier transmission factor

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Also IPEM
Report #75

AAPM Physics Review – Aug 3, 2013

 Basic Principles
The purpose of radiation shielding is to reduce the
effective equivalent dose from a linear accelerator to a
point outside the room to a level that is determined by
individual states.

Public or uncontrolled area - 0.02 mSv per week

- 0.02 mSv in any one hour

Controlled area - 1 mSv/wk (in practice 0.1 mSv/wk)

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Basic Shielding Equations: NCRP
#151 Methodology
Primary: Pd 2
Bp  Iin Iout
WUT

Scatter: Bs 
P 2 2 400 I out
d sec d sca Bx 
aWT F I in

Leakage: 1000 * Pd l2 The factor 1000 is

Bl 
WT due to the 0.1%
leakage requirement
Bx is the barrier
transmission
factor

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Number of Tenth Value Layers
(Primary & Leakage)
The number, n, of tenth value layers (TVLs)
required to reduce the dose to the value P is
given by:
n   log10 B 
and the thickness for primary and leakage
radiation is given by:

T  p ,lTVL1  ( n  1) p ,lTVLe
NCRP report No. 151 Table B.2

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Number of Tenth Value Layers for
Scattered Radiation

Scatter TVLs are dependent only on energy

and scattering angle, so:

Ts  ns TVLs  
NCRP report No. 151, Table B.5a

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Tenth Value Layers
Primary TVLs (cm)*

Energy (MV) 4 6 10 15 18 20
Concrete 35(30) 37(33) 41(37) 44(41) 45(43) 46(44)
Steel 9.9 10 11 11 11 11
Lead 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7

Leakage TVLs at 90°* (cm)

Energy (MV) 4 6 10 15 18 20
Concrete 33(28) 34(29) 35(31) 36(33) 36(34) 36(34)
Steel** 8 8.5 8.7 8.7
Lead** 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.7

* First term is 1st TVL and term in brackets is for all other TVLs.
Data from NCRP #151
** Data from McGinley

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Obliquity Factor - I

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Obliquity factor - II
Rule of thumb:

- for >45°

- and B<0.001

- Add ~2 HVL for low-energy photons

- And ~1 HVL for high-energy photons

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Obliquity factor - III
- Experimental data by Kirn et. al. (1954)
- verified by Biggs (1996) using the Monte Carlo for a
large range of clinical energies

- Monte Carlo results are in good agreement with

previous recommendations at low energy, but more
detail is given

- Caveat: beware of applying obliquity factor

corrections for large angles!!

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Conventional Workload
- Number of patients treated per week multiplied
by the average dose (MU)/patient at isocenter
- Include calibration, service, if indicated
- Recommended values: 500 or 1000 Gy wk-1
- Survey shows values from 250 to 450 Gy wk-1
- Balance between high energy and low energy
use? Using high energy is conservative approach
- Electron-only (IORT) machines?

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Workload TBI
- Workload for TBI >> workload for
conventional therapy due to the extended
distances:
WTBI  DTBI d 2
TBI
- Leakage workload is also higher, but
patient- and wall-scattered workload is
not.

- Radiation is usually directed at one barrier

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Workload IMRT (1)
- Workload for IMRT is complicated by the fact
that the #MU is much larger than for
conventional therapy. The IMRT factor is
defined as:
MU IMRT
CI 
MU conv

and varies between 2 and 10 or more

- This only affects leakage radiation, not primary

or scattered radiation.

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Workload IMRT (2)
- Helical tomotherapy has the highest “C” values, >10.
- Linac based IMRT at MGH gives an average “C” value
of about 5
- Impact of IMAT on MUs (VMAT, Rapid Arc) –
reduction of MUs
- Anecdote: For a 6/18 MV machine the energy use prior
to IMRT was 20%/80% (MU). With 28% IMRT patient
load, the use was 70%/30%. Hence need to consider
balancing the workload for two energies

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Conventional Use Factors

90° interval:
- 0° (31%); 90° and 270° (21.3 % each); 180° (26.3 %)
- previously, all barriers were assigned 0.25

45° interval:
- 0° (25.6 %); 45° and 315° (5.8 % each); 90° and 270°
(15.9 % each); 135° and 225° (4 % each); 180° (23 %)

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Use Factor for Conventional Therapy

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Use Factors – Special Cases

- A significant TBI load will require one

wall to have an increased use factor

- IMRT may also require a change in the

values assigned to the use factor for the
primary barrier

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Use Factor – Dedicated Machines

- One should pay attention to the types of

procedures to be carried out in new room
- A room dedicated to SRS and SRT requires
different considerations from a general therapy
room
- A room dedicated to breast treatments will use
specific ranges of primary beam angles

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Example: Use Factor for Stereotactic
Radiosurgery

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Workload - Summation (1)
Primary:
WU p  WU wall scat 
(WconvU conv  WTBIU TBI  WIMRTU IMRT  WQAU QA  .....)

Patient scatter:
Wscatter ,iso  (Wconv  WIMRT  WQA  ...)

(note that the TBI contribution is calculated

separately – source not at isocenter)

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Workload - Summation (2)

Leakage:
WL  (Wconv  WTBI  C IWIMRT  CQAWQA  ....)

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 Occupancy Factors
- Occupancy factors down to 1/40 are now allowed

- This is the limiting factor to permit 0.02 mSv in any one

hour using an MPD of 0.02 mSv/wk

- Area beyond vault door can now have an occupancy of 1/8

- Caveat: be sure to check not only the occupancy of the

immediately adjacent area, but also the area beyond. For
example, an office beyond a corridor becomes the
dominant factor in the calculation. Also future
development plans foreseen.

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 If the Dose Rate is High, Should I
Freak Out?
Note that even for a weekly limit of 0.02 mSv/wk,
the dose rate outside a barrier could be quite high.

e.g. for a primary barrier, an occupancy of 1/40

would imply a weekly dose of 3.8 mSv and for a
beam on time of 2.8 hr, the instantaneous dose
rate is 1.34 mSv/hr!!

Moral: Choose factors wisely!!

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Instantaneous Dose Rate (IDR)
- NCRP recommends use of 1 hr as the minimum period for
measuring IDR

- Compares with many places (e.g., Europe) where the

instantaneous dose rate at the highest dose delivery rate is
used

- Not an issue for occupancy of 1 for uniformly spaced

treatments

- Only an issue when treatments are not given uniformly

throughout the 40 hr week or occupancy is <1

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Shielding Materials
Materials Density Comments
(g/cm 2)

Concrete 2.35; 3.85 High density concrete is very expensive

Concrete blocks 2.35; 3.85; 4.62 Lack structural integrity of concrete

Lead 11.35 Great for photons; bad for neutrons.

Needs structural support

Steel 7.87 Not as efficient as lead for photons, but better for
neutrons
Earth 1.5 Cheap! Therefore, build underground

Brick 1.65 - 2.05

Polyethylene; ~1.0 Used to shield against neutrons in doors, ducts etc.

borated polyethylene

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Width of Primary Barrier - I
- Allow 1 foot (0.3 m) either side of the primary beam

w  0.4 2d  0.6
- allow for fixed primary collimator diameter (0.5 m)

w  0.5d  0.6
- Allow for greater width at the top of the wall

w  0.5d ' 0.6

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

B
Width evaluated
in elevated
A
plane

C
D
AAPM Physics Review – Aug 3, 2013
Contouring the Primary Shielding in the
Ceiling

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Lead-Only Room: Groundshine

“McGinley”
effect

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 A - wall B - ceiling

for primary barriers,

laser support should
be attached to the
steel channel
C - ceiling
AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014
Neutron Spectra from Medical Linacs

- Neutrons produced in the head of the linac are

first moderated by the x-ray shielding
- Neutrons are further moderated by scattering off
the concrete walls of the therapy room

- Walls with only regular density concrete that are

sufficient for x-ray protection will be adequate for
neutrons.

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Neutron Spectra from Medical Linacs
- The total neutron fluence therefore consists of
direct (‘fast’) neutrons, scattered neutrons and
thermal neutrons

total = dir + sca + th

- Fast neutrons obey the inverse law, but scattered
and thermal neutrons are isotropically distributed;
hence the neutron fluence drops off less fast than
inverse square

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Shielding Thickness Required to Halve
the Average Neutron Energy
most probable

Half Energy Layer (cm)

energy

E (MeV)
AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014
Production of Neutrons by Primary
Beam in a Laminated Barrier
t1 tm t2
For high energy
Incoming neutron
photon x-ray beams,
the x-ray dose is
Capture  ray
enhanced by a
factor of 2.7 to
be conservative

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Production of Neutrons by Primary
Beam in a Laminated Barrier
D0 R Fmax  t1 / TVLx t 2 / TVLn
H *10 *10
 tm 
  t 2  0.3) 
2 
where H is the neutron dose equiv.(Sv wk-1)
D0 is the x-ray dose at isocenter (cGy wk-1)
R is the neutron prodn. rate (Sv cGy-1 m-2)
and Fmax is the max. beam area at isocenter (m2)

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Total Dose Behind a Laminated
Barrier

Htot = Hn + Hph = Hn +2.7*Htr

The 2.7 factor accounts for the production of capture
gamma rays by the photo-produced neutrons. This is an
conservative, empirical figure given by McGinley

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Contributions to the Dose at the
End of a Maze

1. Primary scatter
2. Patient scatter
3. Leakage along maze
4. Leakage through maze wall

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Secondary Radiation at Door due to
Wall Scatter of Primary Beam

W U B1 A1 2 A2
Ss 
d i d r1d r 2 2

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Secondary Radiation at Door due to
Patient Scatter

aW U B F / 400  1 A1
Sp 
d sca d sec d s 2

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Secondary Radiation at Door due to
Leakage

L0 W U B 1 A1
L
d s d1 2

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Secondary Radiation at Door due to
Leakage Through Maze Wall

L0 W U B 10  ( t / TVL )
Ld 
d l d 2
Note that this radiation
is more energetic than
radiation along the
maze

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Mazes
The total dose when the beam is directed towards the wall
is the sum of the four components:

Dt = f*Ss + Sp + L + Ld
Note that the Ss component is reduced by a factor “f” to
account for patient attenuation. Assuming use factors of ¼
for the 4 gantry angles, McGinley gives an average total
dose of:

DT = 2.64 Dt

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Comments on NCRP Formalism
• Several authors† have noted that the foregoing formalism
underestimates the true dose at the door.

• This problem has been partly rectified by redefining the

geometry of the scatter and assuming lower energies for the
scattered radiation which, in turn, increase the scatter
coefficients

† Numark & Kase; Al-Affan; McGinley & James

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Reflection Coefficients for Monoenergetic X-
Rays on Concrete

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Door Inside Room

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Door Outside Room

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Edge Effect for Direct Shielded Doors

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 High Energy
Direction of door

Bad
Good direction
direction

Isocenter Isocenter

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Parameters for Calculation of Neutron Dose
at Door

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Neutron Fluence Entering the
Maze
The total neutron fluence is given by (McCall
et. al, 1999)

Qn 5.4 Qn 1.3Qn

  
4d12
2S r 2S r
The addition of (2) in the scattered and
thermal terms accounts for the directionality of
the neutrons and Qn is the #neutrons/photon
Gy

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Neutron Dose at Door of Maze
Kersey formula: S0 1
H  H0
S d 210 d2 5
1

where H0 is the total neutron head leakage at 1.4 m from

the target, d1 is the distance from the target to the maze
entrance and d2 is the length of the maze. S0/S is the ratio
of the inner to outer maze areas (rationale for lintel). The
TVL for neutrons along the maze is 5 m.

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Modified Kersey Formula

Wu & McGinley’s formula:

S0  
 d2 
  
 d2 
 
H n , D  2.4 x10 15  A 1.64 x10    10   
1.9 TVD

S1  

is a modification of McGinley’s 2-component

model and is based on an analysis of a number of
facilities.

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Dose at Maze Door due to Capture 
Rays
Capture rays follow the same formalism for photoneutron
attenuation in the maze. For mazes >3 m, the first term
disappears and a single exponential term is left.
 d 2 / TVD
D  K total 10
where K is the  dose/n fluence ratio at the maze entrance
is the neutron fluence at the maze entrance
d2 is the distance along the maze
and TVD is the TVL for ’s down the maze

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Combined Dose at Maze Door
The neutron and capture  ray components are
calculated and shielding thicknesses to meet the
required effective dose equivalent are derived
using the following TVLs:
neutrons (100 keV) - 4.5 cm polyethylene
capture  rays - 6.1 cm lead
As a rule, for high energy machines only these
components and the photon leakage components
need be considered. Generally, for 15 & 18 MV
photons, Dn >Dcapture  rays

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Ducts

AAPM Physics Review – Aug 3, 2013

Practical Problems with NCRP #151

- Use of dual energy workloads, dual TVLs,

laminated barriers creates confusion in the
calculations

- Use of the obliquity factor for scattered radiation

(not leakage) is unclear – two examples in the text
give opposing views. Experts are divided on this
issue, but it can be used, but with caution!

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Handling Dual Energies in NCRP #151

- A dual energy machine having say 6 and 18 MV

will have different workloads for (P,S) and L
radiation for 3D CRT and IMRT (6 MV assumed).
In general, a conservative approach assumes:

- use of the maximum energy in a full 3D CRT

environment for the primary and …

- the IMRT workload for the secondary barrier

orthogonal to the plane of gantry rotation

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Handling Dual Energies in NCRP #151

- in the secondary barrier region adjacent to the

primary, the dominance of 3D CRT vs 3D
CRT+IMRT depends on the explicit workloads
and room geometry
- one should be careful to consider 20° scatter
radiation for laminated barriers since the primary
beam angle is only 14° (exclusive of extra 2’
barrier width recommended by NCRP)

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Handling Dual Energies in NCRP #151

- In that same angular zone in the secondary barrier,

there will be be TVLs for two energies for
scattered and leakage radiation
- Rule is that:
- scatter should be added to scatter to determine if an
extra HVL is required
- leakage should be added to leakage to determine if
an extra HVL is required
- Scatter is then compared to leakage to determine if
an additional HVL is required

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

Handling Dual Energies in NCRP #151

- To recap:
(i) S1 + S2  S
(ii) L1 + L2  L
(iii) S + L  Total secondary thickness
- Question remains as to which of the TVLs to use;
higher or lower for L (ii); S or L for (iii)
- However, because of these multiple additions, this
may overestimate the required shielding

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Example: Barrier Adjacent to
Primary
Energy Radiation Workload (Gy) Thickness Comment
________________________________________________________________________________

15 MV Leakage 225 36.1”

6 MV Leakage 1775 42.9”
Combined 6 +15 MV Leakage 2000 47.2” Use TVL1 for 15 MV
15 MV Scatter 225 45.6”
6 MV Scatter 525 42.0”
Combined 6 +15 MV Scatter 750 49.3” Use TVLsca for 15 MV

Combined 6 + 15 MV Leakage + scatter 53.3” Use TVL1 for 15 MV

N Note: … and only one shielding material is used!

o
t AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014
e
 Example: Barrier Orthogonal to
Gantry Rotation Plane
Energy Radiation Workload (Gy) Thickness Comment
_______________________________________________________________________________________

15 MV Leakage 225 37.3”

6 MV Leakage 1775 43.9”
Combined 6 +15 MV Leakage 2000 47.8” Use TVL1 for 15 MV
15 MV Scatter 225 19.8”
6 MV Scatter 525 22.6”
Combined 6 +15 MV Scatter 750 24.7” Use TVLsca for 15 MV

Combined 6 + 15 MV Leakage + scatter 47.8” Use TVL1 for 15 MV

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

 Thank you for your attention!

AAPM Physics Review – July 19, 2014

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