1. NAME AND TITLE

KUX: Medical X-Ray Shielding Calculation.

2. CONTRIBUTOR

Douglas J. Simpkin. Address: Dept. of Radiology, St. Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

3. CODING LANGUAGE AND COMPUTER

Fortran 77; IBM PC and VAX family.

4. NATURE OF PROBLEM SOLVED

KUX calculates the thickness of barrier materials required to bring the weekly exposure near an x-ray or mammography room down to the maximum permitted (or some other user-specified level).

5. METHOD OF SOLUTION

KUX uses the NCRP Report 49 x-ray shielding calculational techniques as generalized by Simpkin using the constant potential x-ray and mammography transmission data from the literature. Program flow and logic follows that of the earlier BASIC program CCC-509/KUXKVPS.

Briefly, the theory states that the required shielding thickness, x, can be calculated if you know the primary and scatter Kuxi's and leakage Blxi's for each i x-ray tube calculated separately. The result is a transcendental equation to be satisfied for the shielding thickness. The variables Kux and Blx are defined in NCRP Report 49 as the quotient of exposure at unit distance and workload (Kux) and transmission factor for leakage x rays (Blx). Shielding data from the literature are included in DATA statements for lead, concrete, gypsum, steel, and plate glass.

6. RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS

The code was modified to accommodate NCRP 91 dose restrictions.

7. TYPICAL RUNNING TIME

KUX is interactive and takes several minutes on a PC.

8. COMPUTER HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

KUX runs on IBM PC and compatibles and on the VAX/VMS family of computers. The executable code does not require a math co-processor.

9. COMPUTER SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

The code was written in Fortran 77 and was tested under DOS 3.3 (IBM PC). An executable file, produced by the MSFORT Version 4.01 compiler, is included.

10. REFERENCES

a. Included in the documentation

D. J. Simpkin, "A General Solution to the Shielding of Medical X and Gamma Rays by the NCRP Report No. 49 Methods," Health Physics 52(4):431-436 (1987).

D. J. Simpkin, "Shielding Requirements for Mammography," Health Physics 53(3):267-279 (1987).

D. J. Simpkin, "Shielding Requirements for Constant-Potential Diagnostic X-Ray Beams Determined by a Monte Carlo Calculation," Health Physics 56(2):151-164 (1989).

"Listing of Sample Interactive Session."

b. Background information

Structural Shielding Design and Evaluation for Medical use of X Rays and Gamma Rays of Energies Up to 10 MeV, NCRP Report 49, National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (1976).

11. CONTENTS OF CODE PACKAGE

Included are the referenced documents and one (360 K) DOS diskette on which the programs and executable files are written. A documentation (README.DOC) file is also included.

12. DATE OF ABSTRACT

May 1989; revised October 1991.

KEYWORDS: X-RAY; GAMMA-RAY; SLAB; PARAMETRIC MODELS;