Rpdir-L12 Shielding Web

IAEA Training Material on Radiation Protection in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology
RADIATION PROTECTION IN
DIAGNOSTIC AND
INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGY
L12: Shielding and X Ray room design
IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
Introduction
• Subject matter: the theory of shielding

design and some related construction
aspects.
• The method used for shielding design and
the basic shielding calculation procedure
IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 2

Topics
Equipment design and acceptable safety

standards
Use of dose constraints in X Ray room design
Barriers and protective devices

Overview
• To become familiar with the safety

requirements for the design of X Ray
systems and auxiliary equipment, shielding
of facilities and relevant international safety
standards e.g. IEC.

Part 12: Shielding and X Ray room

design
Topic 1: Equipment design and acceptable safety

standards
IAEA
Purpose of Shielding
• To protect:
• the X Ray department staff
• the patients (when not being examined)
• visitors and the public
• persons working adjacent to or near the X Ray
facility

Radiation Shielding - Design
Concepts
• Data required include consideration of:

• Type of X Ray equipment
• Usage (workload)
• Positioning
• Whether multiple tubes/receptors are being
used
• Primary beam access (vs. scatter only)
• Operator location
• Surrounding areas

Shielding Design (I)
Equipment
• What equipment is to be used?
• General radiography
• Fluoroscopy (with or without radiography)
• Dental (oral or OPG)
• Mammography
• CT

Shielding Design (II)
The type of equipment is very important for

the following reasons:
• where the X Ray beam will be directed
• the number and type of procedures performed
• the location of the radiographer (operator)
• the energy (kVp) of the X Rays

Shielding Design (III)
Usage
• Different X Ray equipment have very
different usage.
• For example, a dental unit uses low mAs
and low (~70) kVp, and takes relatively few
X Rays each week
• A CT scanner uses high (~130) kVp, high
mAs, and takes very many scans each
week.
Shielding Design (IV)
• The total mAs used each week is an

indication of the total X Ray dose
administered
• The kVp used is also related to dose, but
also indicates the penetrating ability of the X
Rays
• High kVp and mAs means that more
shielding is required.

Shielding Design (V)
Positioning
• The location and orientation of the X Ray
unit is very important:
• distances are measured from the equipment
(inverse square law will affect dose)
• the directions the direct (primary) X Ray beam
will be used depend on the position and
orientation

Radiation Shielding - Typical Room
Layout
A to G are points
used to calculate
shielding

Shielding Design (VI)
Number of X Ray tubes

• Some X Ray equipment may be fitted with
more than one tube
• Sometimes two tubes may be used
simultaneously, and in different directions
• This naturally complicates shielding
calculation

Shielding Design (VII)
Surrounding areas
• The X Ray room must not be designed
without knowing the location and use of all
rooms which adjoin the X Ray room
• Obviously a toilet will need less shielding
than an office
• First, obtain a plan of the X Ray room and
surroundings (including level above and
below)
Radiation Shielding - Design Detail
Must consider:
• appropriate calculation points, covering all
critical locations
• design parameters such as workload,
occupancy, use factor, leakage, target dose
(see later)
• these must be either assumed or taken from
actual data
• use a reasonable worst case more than typical
case, since undershielding is worse than
overshielding

design
Topic 2: Use of dose constraints in

X Ray room design
IAEA
Radiation Shielding Parameters (I)
P - design dose per week

• usually based on 0.3 mSv per year

Radiation Shielding Parameters (II)
• Film storage areas (darkrooms) need special

consideration
• Long periods of exposure will affect film, but
much shorter periods (i.e. lower doses) will
fog film in cassettes
• A simple rule is to allow 0.1 mGy for the
period the film is in storage - if this is 1
month, the design dose is 0.025 mGy/week

Radiation Shielding Parameters (III)
• Remember we must shield against three

sources of radiation
• In decreasing importance, these are:
• primary radiation (the X Ray beam)
• scattered radiation (from the patient)
• leakage radiation (from the X Ray tube)

Radiation Shielding Parameters (IV)
U - use factor
• fraction of time the primary beam is in a
particular direction i.e.: the chosen
calculation point
• must allow for realistic use
• for all points, sum may exceed 1

Radiation Shielding Parameters (V)
• For some X Ray equipment, the X Ray

beam is always stopped by the image
receptor, thus the use factor is 0 in other
directions
• e.g.: CT, fluoroscopy, mammography
• This reduces shielding requirements

Radiation Shielding Parameters (VI)
• For radiography, there will be certain

directions where the X Ray beam will be
pointed:
• towards the floor
• across the patient, usually only in one direction
• toward the chest Bucky stand
• The type of tube suspension will be
important, e.g.: ceiling mounted, floor
mounted, C-arm etc.

Radiation Shielding Parameters (VII)
T - Occupancy
• T = fraction of time a particular place is
occupied by staff, patients or public
• Has to be conservative
• Ranges from 1 for all work areas to 1/20 for
toilets and 1/40 for unattended car parks

Occupancy (NCRP 147)
Area Occupancy factor T

• Administrative or clerical 1
offices; laboratories,
pharmacies and other work
areas fully occupied by an
individual; receptionist areas,
attended waiting rooms,
children indoor play areas,
adjacent X ray rooms, film
reading areas, nurse
stations, X ray control rooms
• Room used for patient 1/2
examinations and treatments
• Corridors, patients rooms,
employee lounges, staff rest 1/5
rooms

Occupancy (NCRP 147)
Area Occupancy factor T

• Corridor doors 1/8
• Public toilets, unattended 1/20
vending areas, storage
rooms, outdoor areas with
seating, unattended waiting
rooms, patient holding areas
• Outdoor areas with only
transient pedestrian or
vehicular traffic, unattended 1/40
parking lots, vehicular drop
off areas (unattended),
stairways, unattended
elevators

Radiation Shielding Parameters (VIII)
W - Workload
• A measure of the radiation output in one
week
• Measured in mA-minutes
• Varies greatly with assumed maximum kVp
of X Ray unit
• Usually a gross overestimation
• Actual dose/mAs can be estimated
Workload (I)
• For example: a general radiography room

• The kVp used will be in the range 60-120 kVp
• The exposure for each film will be between 5 mAs
and 100 mAs
• There may be 50 patients per day, and the room
may be used 7 days a week
• Each patient may have between 1 and 5 films
SO HOW DO WE ESTIMATE W ?

Workload (II)
• Assume an average of 50 mAs per film,

3 films per patient
• Thus W = 50 mAs x 3 films x 50 patients
x 7 days
= 52,500 mAs per week
= 875 mA-min per week
• We could also assume that all this work
is performed at 100 kVp

Examples of Workloads in Current
Use (NCRP 147)
Weekly Workload (W) mA-min at:

100 kVp 125 kVp 150 kVp
General Radiography 1,000 400 200

Fluoroscopy (including spot films) 750 300 150
Chiropractic 1,200 500 250
Mammography 700 at 30 kVp (1,500 for breast

screening)
6 at 70 kVp (conventional intra-oral
Dental
films)
More realistic values include CT: see ref. Simpkin (1997)

Workload - CT
• CT workloads are best calculated from local

knowledge
• Remember that new spiral CT units, or multi-
slice CT, could have higher workloads
• A typical CT workload is about 28,000 mA-
min per week

Tube Leakage
• All X Ray tubes have some radiation leakage -

there is only 2-3 mm lead in the housing
• Leakage is limited in most countries to 1 mGy.hr-1
@ 1 meter, so this can be used as the actual
leakage value for shielding calculations
• Leakage also depends on the maximum rated tube
current, which is about 3-5 mA @ 150 kVp for most
radiographic X Ray tubes

Radiation Shielding Parameters

Room Shielding - Multiple X Ray
Tubes
• Some rooms will be fitted with more than

one X Ray tube (maybe a ceiling-mounted
tube, and a floor-mounted tube)
• Shielding calculations MUST consider the

TOTAL radiation dose from the two tubes


design
Topic 3: Barriers and protective devices
IAEA
Shielding - Construction I
Materials available:
• lead (sheet, composite, vinyl)
• brick
• gypsum or baryte plasterboard
• concrete block
• lead glass/acrylic

Shielding - Construction Problems
Some problems with shielding materials:

• Brick walls - mortar joints
• Use of lead sheets nailed to timber frame
• Lead inadequately bonded to backing
• Joins between sheets with no overlap
• Use of hollow core brick or block
• Use of plate glass where lead glass
specified
Problems in shielding - Brick Walls &
Mortar Joints
• Bricks should be solid and not hollow

• Bricks have very variable X Ray attenuation
• Mortar is less attenuating than brick
• Mortar is often not applied across the full
thickness of the brick

Problems in shielding - Lead
inadequately bonded to backing
• Lead must be fully glued (bonded) to a

backing such as wood or wallboard
• If the lead is not properly bonded, it will
possibly peel off after a few years
• Not all glues are suitable for lead
(oxidization of the lead surface)

Problems in shielding - Joins between
sheets with no overlap
• There must be 10 - 15 mm overlap between

adjoining sheets of lead
• Without an overlap, there may be relatively
large gaps for the radiation to pass through
• Corners are a particular problem

Problems in shielding - Use of plate
glass
• Plate glass (without lead of specified

quantity as used in windows, but thicker) is
not approved as a shielding material
• The radiation attenuation of plate glass is
variable and not predictable
• Lead glass or lead Perspex must be used for
windows

Radiation Shielding - Construction II
• Continuity and integrity of shielding very

important
• Problem areas:
• joins
• penetrations in walls and floor
• window frames
• doors and frames

Penetrations
• “Penetrations” means any hole cut into the

lead for cables, electrical connectors, pipes
etc.
• Unless the penetration is small (~2-3 mm),
there must be additional lead over the hole,
usually on the other side of the wall
• Nails and screws used to fix bonded lead
sheet to a wall do not require covering

Window frames
• The lead sheet fixed to a wall must overlap

any lead glass window fitted
• It is common to find a gap of up to 5 cm,

which is unacceptable

Shielding of Doors and Frames

Shielding - Verification I
• Verification should be mandatory

• Two choices - visual or measurement
• Visual check must be performed before
shielding covered - the actual lead thickness
can be measured easily
• Radiation measurement necessary for
window and door frames etc.
• Measurement for walls very slow
Shielding Testing

Records
• It is very important to keep records of

shielding calculations, as well as details of
inspections and corrective action taken to fix
faults in the shielding
• In 5 years time, it might not be possible to

find anyone who remembers what was done!

Summary
• The design of shielding for an X Ray room is

a relatively complex task, but can be
simplified by the use of some standard
assumptions
• Record keeping is essential to ensure
traceability and constant improvement of
shielding according to both practice and
equipment modification

Practical Questions for shielding calculations
Radiography
• Find the necessary amount of lead to protect

personnel sitting in an adjacent office, for a
dose constraint of 0.30mSv per year [1],
taking into account the following
assumptions and data. You must calculate
and consider all 3 types of radiation
(Primary, Scattered and Leakage).

ASSUMPTIONS DATA KNOWN
Leakage dose is 1mGy per hour at a distance of 1.0 Workload of 100 patients per day
meter. (Worst Case Scenario) 3 films per patient
20mAs per film
7 days per week
Scatter fraction (Sf) from patient is 0.0025 at 125kVp Unit maximum current 2.0mA
and 135 degrees, (Worst Case Scenario)
Average dose per unit workload of 4.72mGy [2,3] Field size of 1000cm². Relate this
per week at 1 meter distance. to the standard 400cm²
Focus to skin distance 80cm. (Needed to calculate Use factor U=0.25.

the scattered dose) Occupancy factor T=1.0.
Critical distance d=2.5 m
IAEA
Solution (a) 1/8
Step1. Calculate the Workload (W)

in mAmin/week
W = (mAs/film) x (patients/day) x
(films/patient) x (days/week)
= 20 x 100 x 3 x 7
= 42,000 mAs/week
= 700mAmin/week
Solution (a) 2/8
Step 2. Calculate the primary dose per

week at 1 meter
P1 = (mAmin/week) x (Average
dose per unit workload in mGy/week)
= 700 x 4.72
= 3,304mGy/week

Solution (a) 3/8
Step 3. Calculate the Primary dose per

week at the critical distance.
P = (P1 x U x T)/d²
= (3,304 x 0.25 x 1)/2.5²
= 132.16mGy/week

Solution (a) 4/8
Step 4. Calculation of scattered dose per

week at the critical distance
S = (P1 x T x Sf x 1000)/(400 x d x 0.8²)

= (3304 x 1 x0.0025 x 1000)/(400 x 2.52 x
0.8²)
= 5.2mGy/week

Solution (a) 5/8
Step 5. Calculation of the leakage radiation per

week at the critical distance
a) Tube on time = (W)/(Tube current)

for leak. calc. = 700/(2 x 60)
= 5.83 hours
b) Leakage dose (L) = (Time x U x T)/d²
= (5.83 x 1 x 0.25)/2.5²
= 0.233mGy/week
Solution (a) 6/8
Step 6. Add the three sources of radiation

together
Total dose = P+S+L
= (132.16 + 5.2 + 0.233)
= 137.59mGy/week

Solution (a) 7/8
Step 7. Calculate the required attenuation
If the required attenuation is

0.006mGy/week (0.3mSv/year¹), then the
required attenuation () would be:
 = 0.006/137.59
= 0.000044
Solution (a) 8/8 Shielding Calculation
From graph below a lead of thickness approximately
2.6mm is necessary.
Reduction factor
50 75 kV 100 150 200 kV
105
250
104
300 kV
103
102
10 Lead Required
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 mm
Question for shielding calculation
Computer Tomography
A CT scanner is placed in a room as in

figure 1. The height of the ceiling is 4.0m.
The walls are made of lightweight concrete
(1840kg/m³), with a minimum thickness of
110mm. The scanner isocentre is located
0.9m above floor level. Isodose curves have
been provided for a 120kVp, 250mAs, 10mm
slice on a 320mm diameter PMMA body
phantom and a 350mAs 10mm slice on a
160mm head phantom.
Figure 1

ASSUMPTIONS DATA KNOWN
1 The scatter dose per mAs 140 body examinations/week.

from a 10mm slice through Average body examination
the head is half that from a comprises of 24 slices of 10mm
slice through the body. width with a table feed of 14mm.
2 100 head examinations/week.
Average head examination
consists of 10 slices of 10 mm
width and 5 slices of 5mm width.
IAEA
Solution (b) 1/9
Step1. Calculate the total workload per week
a) Number of 250mAs body slices per week

= 140 body examinations x 22 slices per examination
= 3080 slices per week
b) Number of 350mAs, 10mm equivalent head slices
per week.
= (10 slices x 100) + [(5 slices x 100) x (5/10)]
= 1250
The division 5/10 was needed to normalize the five
slices of 5mm to the equivalent of 10mm.
Solution (b) 2/9
c) = Equivalent number of 250mAs, 10mm head

examinations.
= (1250/2) x (350/250)
(See assumption 1)
= 875 slices per week for head examination
Hence:
The total workload per week
= 3080 + 875
= 3955 body slices of 250mAs and 10mm width.
Solution (b) 3/9
Step 2. Calculation of the transmission factor,

regarding wall B
From figure 1, distance from the isocentre is 2.5m and the
dose contour is 1.5Gy
Hence:
The dose per week from 3955 slices is equal to
= 3955 x 1.5Gy
= 5933Gy
The area behind wall B is an office, where the occupancy
is estimated to be 100%
The required transmission for that barrier, B
B = 0.3/(5.933mGy x 1 x 52)
B = 3.2x10-3
Solution (b) 4/9
Step 3. Calculations of coefficients ,  and ,

based on Archers et al (1997) formula, interpolated
for 10kVp
With reference to table 4.6 of BIR (2000)¹, the

following coefficients have been calculated for lead
material by interpolation for 120kVp:
 = 2.2878
 = 9.3780
 = 0.7664

Solution (b) 5/9
Using the following formula the thickness of

the material required (lead), x, to provide the
desired transmission can be calculated
1  B 1   /  ) 
x
    1  (  /  ) 
ln 
1
 0.5703 B 1  (  /  )  316 .5991
 
1  ( /  )  5.0991

Solution (b) 6/9
x= 0.5703 x ln(316.5991/5.0991)
x= 2.35 mm of lead

Solution (b) 7/9
With reference to table 4.6 of BIR (2000)¹,

the following coefficients have been
calculated for concrete by interpolation for
120kVp:
 = 0.0359
 = 0.0696
 = 0.7302

Solution (b) 8/9
Using the following formula the thickness of

the material required (concrete), x, to
provide the desired transmission can be
calculated 1  B   /  ) 
1
x ln  
    1  ( /  ) 
1
 380519 B 1  (  /  )  314 .4338
 
1  ( /  )  2.9338
Solution (b) 9/9
x = 38.0519 x ln(314.4338/2.9338)
x =177.8727mm of concrete

References:
1. Radiation Shielding for Diagnostic X-Rays (2000), Ed.

D.G. Sutton and J.R. Williams, Pub. BIR.
2. IAEA Training Material, Diagnostic Radiology, L.12.1,
slide 16
3. National Council on Radiation Protection and
Measurements “Structural Shielding Design for
Medical X Rays Imaging Facilities” 2004 (NCRP 147)
4. Diagnostic X-ray shielding design,
B. R. Archer, AAPM Monograph The expanding role
of medical physics in diagnostic radiology, 1997

Where to Get More Information (I)
• New concepts for Radiation Shielding of

Medical Diagnostic X Ray Facilities,
D. J. Simpkin, AAPM Monograph The
expanding role of medical physics in
diagnostic radiology, 1997

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IAEA Training Material on Radiation Protection in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology

L12: Shielding and X Ray room design

• Subject matter: the theory of shielding

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 2

Equipment design and acceptable safety

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 3

• To become familiar with the safety

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 4

Part 12: Shielding and X Ray room

Topic 1: Equipment design and acceptable safety

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 6

• Data required include consideration of:

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 7

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 8

The type of equipment is very important for

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 9

• The total mAs used each week is an

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 11

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 12

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 13

Number of X Ray tubes

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 14

Part 12: Shielding and X Ray room

Topic 2: Use of dose constraints in

P - design dose per week

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 18

• Film storage areas (darkrooms) need special

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 19

• Remember we must shield against three

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 20

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 21

• For some X Ray equipment, the X Ray

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 22

• For radiography, there will be certain

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 23

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 24

Area Occupancy factor T

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 25

Area Occupancy factor T

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 26

• For example: a general radiography room

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 28

• Assume an average of 50 mAs per film,

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 29

Weekly Workload (W) mA-min at:

General Radiography 1,000 400 200

Mammography 700 at 30 kVp (1,500 for breast

More realistic values include CT: see ref. Simpkin (1997)

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 30

• CT workloads are best calculated from local

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 31

• All X Ray tubes have some radiation leakage -

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 32

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 33

• Some rooms will be fitted with more than

• Shielding calculations MUST consider the

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 34

Part 12: Shielding and X Ray room

Topic 3: Barriers and protective devices

IAEA 12: Shielding and X Ray room design 36

Some problems with shielding materials:

• Bricks should be solid and not hollow