Contribution to dose control at the Moroccan Boukhalef ionization facility: Design by Monte Carlo simulation of a container for agricultural products irradiation

Abstract

In facilities that manage sources of ionizing radiation, controlling the absorbed dose delivered to a target is of paramount importance. This factor is essential as it directly reflects the quality of irradiation within such facilities. The BOukhalef Ionization Station (SIBO), part of the Moroccan National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), presents an example of one among several applications of ionizing radiation worldwide. It houses a60Co gamma irradiator used for conducting scientific research in the field of agriculture. The objective of this work is to contribute to dose control at SIBO by designing a container for agricultural products irradiation. This Container will enable a more uniform distribution of absorbed dose within the irradiated products. In this study, the Monte Carlo simulation GATE (Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission) code is employed to flexibly adjust the dimensions of the container, and to calculate the dose homogeneity factor in the irradiated products. By selecting a cylindrical container for the irradiated products, this study shows a significant enhancement in the homogeneity factor through the reduction of the cylinder's thickness (external radius minus internal radius) when transitioning from a solid cylinder to a hollow one. Indeed, the homogeneity factor improves significantly from 2.65 to 1.64 when transitioning from a solid cylinder with a radius of 20 cm and a height of 20 cm, to a hollow cylinder with a height of 10 cm, an internal radius of 20 cm, and an external radius of 28.3 cm.