Design and shielding calculation for a PET/CT facility

Following the AAPM Task Group Report No. 108, the NCRP Report No. 147 recommendations and the Cuban's local regulations for nuclear medicine practice were carried out the safety planning and design of a new PET/CT facility for the Nuclear Medicine Department of 'Hermanos Ameijeiras' Hospital. It should be installed in the top floor of the NM building (3th floor), occupied by offices, classrooms and ancillaries areas, meanwhile in the second floor is working the conventional nuclear medicine department. The radiation doses were evaluated in areas of the second, third and quarter floor taking into account the pet isotope, the workload, the occupancy factors of each place, the use factors of different sources and the dose reduction factors, warranty the accomplish of the Cuban dose restrictions associated to the nuclear medicine practice. In each point of calculation was considered the contribution from each source to the total dose, as well as the contribution of the CT in the adjacent room to the imaging room. For the proper facility design was considered the transmission factors of the existing barriers, and calculated the new ones to be added between each source and the estimation point, keeping in mind the space limitations. The PET/CT design plan meet all the needs, the development of the project is consistent with the mission of the facility and the radiation protection regulations of nuclear medicine. (Author)