Shielding variation effects for 250 MeV protons on tissue targets

This paper provides results of computer simulation studies with the goal to analyse issues regarding radiation protection for personnel, patients and third persons involved in hadron therapy treatment. The treatment room and the patient are modelled by simple cylindrical geometries at incident proton energies of 250 MeV. Monte Carlo simulations of the energy and angular dependence of proton, neutron and photon radiation fields and resulting ambient dose equivalent distributions outside the shielding walls are performed. In order to investigate systematic uncertainties due to the shielding materials and inherent to the computer models, various concrete compositions, densities and water contents are modelled, and the influence of simulation parameters on the results obtained is determined. Generally, good agreement is found between results provided by MCNPX and FLUKA computer codes. Variations in neutron ambient dose attenuation from -50 to +/-30% are found due to varying concrete composition. Changes in the water content of the concrete in the order of 8% may cause variations up to 20%.