Comparison of different methods for the shielding analysis of an AB-BNCT facility based on the Be(p,xn) reaction with 30-MeV protons

Bo-Lun Lai; Yu-Shiang Huang; Po-Chen Lai; Wei-Han Chu; Rong-Jiun Sheu

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109351

Comparison of different methods for the shielding analysis of an AB-BNCT facility based on the Be(p,xn) reaction with 30-MeV protons

Appl Radiat Isot. 2020 Dec:166:109351. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109351. Epub 2020 Jul 29.

Authors

Bo-Lun Lai¹, Yu-Shiang Huang¹, Po-Chen Lai¹, Wei-Han Chu², Rong-Jiun Sheu³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Sec. 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, 30013, Taiwan.
² Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, 1000, Wen-Hua Road, Longtan, Taoyuan, 32546, Taiwan.
³ Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Sec. 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, 30013, Taiwan; Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Sec. 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu, 30013, Taiwan. Electronic address: rjsheu@mx.nthu.edu.tw.

PMID: 32795700
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2020.109351

Abstract

Five shielding calculation methods were employed to estimate the dose rate distribution around an accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy facility. Their performances were compared in terms of accuracy and efficiency. The results indicate that the hybrid deterministic/Monte Carlo method is the most efficient in the context of accurate modeling and simulation, whereas the analytical approximation with pre-generated source terms and attenuation lengths is preferable in the design phase because of its simplicity and ease of verification while retaining a reasonable accuracy.

Keywords: Accelerator-based neutron source; Boron neutron capture therapy; Hybrid method; Monte Carlo; Point-source line-of-sight approximation; Variance reduction.