Calculation of the mass stopping powers of medical, chemical, and industrial compounds and mixtures

Abstract

We developed a new version of the X-PMSP program for estimating mass stopping powers in charged particle radiotherapy, shielding of nuclear reactors and particle accelerators, and medical and energetic radioisotope production. Accordingly, we calculated the mass stopping powers of important medical, industrial, and chemical compounds and mixtures defined by International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements using the X-PMSP program, to contribute to the existing literature and compared our results with those from the National Institute of Standards and Technology database. The application of this program, for particles in the energy range 10-50 MeV, will be especially important in the production of medical radioisotopes, as it reduces the maximum error rate to <5 % for proton, and to ~1.6 % for alpha particles. Furthermore, the maximum error rates in charged particle radiotherapy, at the energy range 1-250 MeV, are 8.2 % for protons, and 3.0 % for alpha particles.