Analysis of radiation safety management status of medical linear accelerator facilities in Korea

Abstract

The rapid rise in the application of novel treatment techniques, such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), motivated us to survey the status of Korea's radiation safety management and the shielding designs of facilities employing medical linear accelerators (LINACs). To this end, a questionnaire was used to collect information on LINAC facilities and treatments, workload, shielding design, shielding management, and path of obtaining shielding information. Out of 100 domestic institutions, 52 responded to the survey. Approximately 70% of the institutions utilized IMRT for more than 60% of their cases, and an IMRT factor of 5 was adopted by 75% of these institutions. Over 80% of the institutions accounted for the applied time-averaged dose rate per week and instantaneous dose equivalent rates in their shielding designs. Approximately 45% of the institutions obtained important shielding information via a radiation shielding design company and the NCRP-151 report. Overall, most facilities were shown to follow the standards recommended by the relevant international agencies. However, the requirement to establish standardized shielding design information and clarify ambiguous paths for information acquisition was also highlighted. Therefore, the study's results can be used as a foundation for establishing a safety control system and for creating adequate shielding designs.