The Procedure for Determining and Quality Assurance Program for the Calculation of Dose Coefficients Using DCAL Software

Authors

A. Arndt, Idaho State UniversityFollow
John P. Shanahan, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
C. Gold, Idaho State University
R. Brey, Idaho State UniversityFollow
T. Gesell, Idaho State University
Phillip W. Patton, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Mark Rudin, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
K. Eckerman, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
V. Rusetski, I. Javakhishvili Tiblisi State University
S. Pagava, I. Javakhishvili Tiblisi State University

Document Type

White Paper

Publication Date

2001

First page number:

1

Last page number:

13

Abstract

The development of a spallation neutron source with a mercury target may lead to the production of rare radionuclides. The dose coefficients for many of these radionuclides have not yet been published. A collaboration of universities and national labs has taken on the task of calculating dose coefficients for the rare radionuclides using the software package: DCAL. The working group developed a procedure for calculating dose coefficients and a quality assurance (QA) program to verify the calculations completed. The first portion of this QA program was to verify that each participating group could independently reproduce the dose coefficients for a known set of radionuclides. The second effort was to divide the group of radionuclides among the independent participants in a manner that assured that each radionuclide would be redundantly and independently calculated. The final aspect of this program was to resolve any discrepancies arising among the participants as a group of the whole. The output of the various software programs for six QA radionuclides, ¹⁴⁴Nd, ²⁰¹Au, ⁵⁰V, ⁶¹Co, ⁴¹Ar, and ³⁸S were compared among all members of the working group. Initially, a few differences in outputs were identified. This exercise identified weaknesses in the procedure, which have since been revised. After the revisions, dose coefficients were calculated and compared to published dose coefficients with good agreement. The present efforts involve generating dose coefficients for the rare radionuclides anticipated to be produced from the spallation neutron source should a mercury target be employed.

Keywords

Radiation — Dosage; Radiation — Safety measures; Radiation dosimetry; Radioisotopes – Measurement; Spallation (Nuclear physics)

Controlled Subject

Radiation dosimetry; Radioisotopes--Measurement; Radiation--Safety measures

Disciplines

Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics | Nuclear | Oil, Gas, and Energy

File Format

pdf

File Size

741 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Repository Citation

Arndt, A., Shanahan, J. P., Gold, C., Brey, R., Gesell, T., Patton, P. W., Rudin, M., Eckerman, K., Rusetski, V., Pagava, S. (2001). The Procedure for Determining and Quality Assurance Program for the Calculation of Dose Coefficients Using DCAL Software. 1-13.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/hrc_trp_sciences_physics/39