Malaysian participation in the IAEA/WHO postal TLD and postal ionisation chamber intercomparison programmes: analysis of results obtained during 1985-2008.

During the years 1985-2008, the Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratory of Malaysia (SSDL Malaysia) has participated 37 times in the IAEA/WHO intercomparison programmes. This paper reports an analysis of the intercomparison data and demonstrates that the quality of the SSDL calibration service is well within the limits required by IAEA.

Accurate measurement of exposure rate from a 60Co teletherapy source: deviations from the inverse-square law.

A cylindrical gamma-ray 60Co source of activity alpha is predicted to produce an exposure rate X at a distance d in vacuum, given by X = gamma(T)(alpha/d2), where gamma(T) is the specific gamma-ray constant. It has been documented that this formula may be used to approximate X with an accuracy of 1% from a source of length l, provided that d/l > or = 5. It is shown that the formula is accurate to 0.1% under these conditions, provided that the distance is measured from the centre of the source. When absorption in the source and scattering in the collimator are considered, the position of the origin d = 0 can shift by a distance of the order of centimetres. Absorption in air between the source and the ionization chamber adds an exponential factor to the formula. It is shown that even when these modifications are included the discrepancy in the results, although generally less than 1%, is still large compared with the measurement errors. Some suggestions are made for the origin of this discrepancy.

Inter-comparison of absorbed dose to water in a Co-60 therapy beam using IAEA and HPA protocols.

The absorbed dose water in a Co-60 teletherapy beam has been measured with four different standard ionisation chambers applying two codes of practice and also, with a Fricke dosimeter. Measured values agree generally within 2.3%. There is a remarkable agreement of less than 0.3% variation, between ionisation chambers NE 2561 and NE 2481 when the IAEA protocol is applied. The HPA protocol is applicable to only NE 2561 and a variation of about 1.4% was observed between measurements made with this ionisation chamber applying the two protocols. The IAEA protocol shows very accurate results. With a deviation of about 2.2%, the Frickle dosimeter appears to be the least accurate for therapy dose measurement despite its simplicity of application.

Absorbed Dose to Water Determination Using IAEA, HPA, NACP, AAPM, NCRP and ICRU Protocols for 1.25 MeV Gamma Ray 6 MV and 10 MV X-Rays: An Intercomparison of Results when IAEA was taken as a Standard Protocol.

Absorbed dose to water was measured with ionisation chambers NE 2561 (#267), NE 2581 (#334), NE 2571 (#1028), using the IAEA standard water phantom. The ionisation chamber was inserted in the water phantom at a reference depth dependent on the type of the radiation quality used. Three radiation qualities were used namely 1.25 MeV gamma ray, 6 MV x-rays and 10 MV x-rays. The values of the absorbed dose to water were determined by the N(K)- and N(X)- based methods, i.e with the use of IAEA, HPA, NACP, AAPM, NCRP and ICRU protocols. The aim of this study was to make an intercomparison of the results, by taking the IAEA protocol as a standard. The largest deviation contributed by any of these protocols was recorded for each quality. It was found that AAPM, NCRP and ICRU protocols contributed 0.94% for 1.25 MeV gamma ray, NACP contributed 2.12% for the 6 MV x-rays, and NACP contributed 2.35% for 10 MV x-rays. Since the acceptable limit of deviation set by the IAEA for this absorbed dose work is ± 3%, it is clear that the overall deviations obtained were all satisfactory.