Computational determination of neutron dose equivalent level at the maze entrance of a medical accelerator facility

An empirical formula for the neutron dose equivalent at the maze entrance of medical accelerator treatment rooms was derived on the basis of a Monte Carlo simulation. The simulated neutron dose equivalents around the Varian medical accelerator by the MCNPX code were employed. Two cases of target rotational planes were considered: parallel and perpendicular to maze walls. Most of the maximum neutron dose equivalents at the doorway were found when the target rotational planes were parallel to maze walls and the beams were directed to the inner maze entrances. The neutron dose equivalents at the outer maze entrances were calculated for about 698 medical accelerator facilities which were generated from the geometry configurations of running treatment rooms, based on such gantry rotation that produces the maximum neutron dose at the doorway. The results calculated with the empirical formula in this study were compared with those calculated by the Kersey method for 7 operating facilities. It was found that the maximum disagreement between the calculation of this study and that of the Kersey method was a factor of 8.54 with the value calculated by the Kersey method exceeding that of this study. It was concluded that the Kersey method estimated the neutron dose equivalent at the doorway computed by MCNPX more conservatively than this study technique