Calculating shielding requirements in diagnostic X-ray departments

Structural radiation protection for diagnostic X-ray facilities is most com monly performed following the recommendations of the National Council on Ra diation Protection and Measurements Report No. 49. A number of analytical m ethods have already been developed to improve the design of these facilitie s. Specifically, these methods reassess shielding calculations in X-ray are as with respect to the methodology of the calculation of the barrier thickn ess and the number of sources considered in the area. Thus, they generate a n overall solution for the cases met at the medical radiation structural de sign. This paper presents an extension of an existing method for calculatin g shielding requirements, for multiple X-ray tubes in a room operated at va rious beam qualities. The methodology computes the required shielding thick ness such that the exposure behind it stays below a desired value. The pres ented method eliminates the overestimation of added shielding thickness whi ch may occur using the other methods already mentioned. A user-friendly win dows-based program has also been developed to assist shielding computations .