Abstract
Under normal operating conditions, a patient undergoing radiotherapy will receive a total dose of approximately=5 Gy per treatment in terms of monitor units. Since the overall half-life of the activity is of the order of 49 minutes, and the radiation shielding blocks are usually customized for the patient, there would be no further build-up of activity with daily treatments. This implies a dose equivalent rate of the order of 3 mu Sv h-1 will be received by the hands of radiographers handling the blocks. However the activity can and would be expected to increase with greater accelerator voltages. Even so, it is unlikely that dose equivalent rates will pose a radiation hazard. It is concluded that photonuclear reactions in Cerrobend do not result in significant exposure to radiographers and other staff in a radiation oncology facility (at least for photon beam energies up to 18 MV).
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