Monte Carlo calculation of the organ equivalent dose and effective dose due to immersion in a 16N beta source in air using the ICRP Reference Phantoms

TL;DR

This study compares Monte Carlo methods for calculating organ and effective doses from a 16N beta source using ICRP reference phantoms, highlighting challenges and achieving high agreement among different codes.

Contribution

It demonstrates the implementation of voxel phantoms in Monte Carlo codes for dose calculation and addresses discrepancies in skeletal tissue dose estimation.

Findings

Achieved +/-5% agreement among different Monte Carlo codes.

Identified and corrected errors in skeletal tissue dose calculations.

Provided training for implementing ICRP phantoms in radiation transport simulations.

Abstract

This work summarises the results of a comparison organized by EURADOS focused on the usage of the ICRP Reference Computational Phantoms. This activity aimed to provide training for the implementation of voxel phantoms in Monte Carlo radiation transport codes and the calculation of the dose equivalent in organs and the effective dose. This particular case describes a scenario of immersion in a 16N beta source distributed in the air of a room with concrete walls where the phantom is located. Seven participants took part in the comparison of results using GEANT4, TRIPOLI-4 and MCNP family codes, and there was detected a general problem when calculating the dose to skeletal tissue and the remainder tissue. After a process of feedback with the participants the errors were corrected and the final results reached an agreement of +/-5%.