Characterization of the Radiation Environment at the UNLV Accelerator Facility During Operation of the Varian M6 Linac

Authors

Matthew Hodges, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Alexander P. Barzilov, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Yi-tung Chen, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Daniel Lowe, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-17-2016

Publication Title

Radiation Physics and Chemistry

Volume

127

Issue

October

First page number:

72

Last page number:

77

Abstract

The bremsstrahlung photon flux from the UNLV particle accelerator (Varian M6 model) was determined using MCNP5 code for 3 MeV and 6 MeV incident electrons. Human biological equivalent dose rates due to accelerator operation were evaluated using the photon flux with the flux-to-dose conversion factors. Dose rates were computed for the accelerator facility for M6 linac use under different operating conditions. The results showed that the use of collimators and linac internal shielding significantly reduced the dose rates throughout the facility. It was shown that the walls of the facility, in addition to the earthen berm enveloping the building, provide equivalent shielding to reduce dose rates outside to below the 2 mrem/h limit.

Repository Citation

Hodges, M., Barzilov, A. P., Chen, Y., Lowe, D. (2016). Characterization of the Radiation Environment at the UNLV Accelerator Facility During Operation of the Varian M6 Linac. Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 127(October), 72-77.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2016.06.010