Dose rate outside primary barriers
McGinley, P.H.
Health Physics 80(2 Suppl): S7-S8
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0017-9078 PMID: 11197515 Document Number: 537949
The author has investigated the use of the inverse square function to predict the photon dose rate outside primary barriers for medical accelerators. Measurements of the dose rate as a function of distance outside the barriers were made at five medical accelerator facilities. An analysis of the data showed that the radiation field appears to diverge from a point between the x-ray target and primary barrier. This behavior of the x-ray beam was attributed to scattering of photons in the shield barrier. It was concluded that the dose outside the barrier will be overestimated if the distance from the x-ray target to the point of calculation is utilized to carry out an inverse square correction.