Computerized radiation protection assessments for diagnostic and therapeutic x-ray rooms

Procedures for calculating radiation barrier protective values are well established for conventional diagnostic and therapeutic x-ray rooms. Calculation and curve reading, however, can be tedious, particularly when large new departments are being planned. Existing departments are subject to modernisation processes, producing changes in equipment, techniques as well as the number and size of rooms. To deal with a steady demand for protection assessments computer programmes have been written, the purpose of this paper being to briefly describe their functioning and output. The programmes are written in FORTRAN 4 and run on a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP 11/40 computer using disc storage. The programme for the diagnostic x-ray room assesses protection requirements for a 125 kV primary beam and uses approximately 6 kilobytes of core. (author)