The calculation of a size correction factor for a whole-body counter

Abstract

Whole-Body counting techniques use radiation detectors in order to evaluate the internal exposure from radionuclides. The Whole-Body Counter (WBC) of the Greek Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) is used for in vivo measurements of workers for routine purposes as well as for the public in case of an emergency. The system has been calibrated using the phantom provided by CANBERRA (RMC phantom) in combination with solid and point sources. Furthermore, four bottle phantoms of different sizes have been used to calibrate the system to measure potassium, 40K, for different sized workers. However, the use of different phantoms in combination with different sources is time consuming and expensive. Moreover, the purchase and construction of the reference standards need specific knowledge. An alternative option would be the use of Monte Carlo simulation. In this study, the Monte Carlo technique has been firstly validated using the 40K measurements of the four phantoms. After the validation of the methodology, the Monte Carlo code, MCNP, has been used with the same simulated geometries (phantom detector) and different sources in order to calculate the efficiency of the system for different photon energies in the four phantoms. The simulation energies correspond to the following radionuclides: 131I, 137Cs, 60Co, and 88Y. A size correction calibration factor has been defined in order to correct the efficiency of the system for the different phantoms and energies for uniform distribution. The factors vary from 0.64 to 1.51 depending on the phantom size and photon energy.