Estimating radiation protection factor (RPF) values for a simple surrogate vehicle using the MCNP6.1 code

Abstract

Computational and experimental estimates of radiation protection factor (RPF) values are of significant interest to various defense-related organizations. Values of the operational quantity of ambient dose equivalent were computed, using version 6.1 of the Monte Carlo N-Particle® code (MCNP6.1), for 25 photon energies and 53 neutrons energies. Energy-dependent values for absorbed dose at a 10-mm depth in the 30-cm-diameter ICRU tissue-equivalent sphere, D*(10), were estimated using the kerma approximation for photon (MCNP F6:p tally) and neutron (MCNP F6:n tally) radiation fields, and then transformed to fluence-to-ambient dose equivalent conversion coefficients, H*(10)/ϕ, using appropriate quality factors, Q, and radiation fluences. MCNP6.1-computed values of H*(10)/ϕ were compared with tabulated values from ICRP Publication 74. The published conversion coefficients for photon radiation fields were within the error bounds of all MCNP6.1-calculated values. For neutron fields, the computed and published conversion coefficients agreed within calculated error bounds for neutron energies of 100 keV and above, while responses to neutron fields below 100 keV exhibited the same shape and were consistent with the kerma approximation applied in the computational model. The MCNP6.1 models were then modified to simulate the same radiation fields, but H*(10)/ϕ conversion coefficients were calculated in the shielded environment of a surrogate vehicle (steel cube)—in keeping with historical and recent studies—and the ratios of shielded and unshielded vehicle response functions were expressed as energy-dependent RPF values. The MCNP6.1-computed neutron RPF values were compared with two prior experimental studies involving a mono-energetic neutron source and a high-yield, short-duration fission neutron spectrum and found to agree within the uncertainty of the experimentally-measured values. Limitations of the computed RPF values are discussed.