Publications by authors named "Tadahiro Kurosawa"

Article Synopsis
  • A dosimeter must be calibrated in a field with energy and dose rates similar to its intended measurement environment, especially in areas like nuclear reactors and radiation therapy where high-energy photons are present.
  • The Japan Atomic Energy Agency and National Metrology Institute of Japan provide high-energy reference fields for testing dosimeters, containing photon energies above several megaelectronvolts.
  • The study assessed the performance of two-cavity ionization chambers in these high-energy fields, confirming their accuracy for air kerma measurements with an acceptable level of uncertainty.
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In the medical and nuclear fields, there are environments where exposure to photons with energies above several MeV can result in problems. The National Metrology Institute of Japan has developed a high-energy photon field using a 15 MeV electron beam of a clinical linear accelerator with a copper target and an aluminium filter unit to facilitate dosimeter calibration in terms of air kerma. To determine the air kerma rate, the energy fluence distribution at a reference point was calculated, and both calculations and experiments evaluated the effective energy and spatial dose distribution.

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  • This technical report discusses the quality control status of iodine (I) seed source strength measurement for Permanent Prostate Brachytherapy in Japan, highlighting issues with traceability in source strength assessments.
  • A working group was formed by JASTRO in 2021 to tackle the challenges faced by medical facilities, including a lack of consistent source strength verification, with a survey revealing that 41% of facilities do not confirm the number of seeds or measure source strength.
  • The report emphasizes the importance of the single-seed assay as a reliable method for ensuring traceability, noting that most facilities in Japan do not utilize this standardized measurement technique.
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In the ICRU Report 90, the uncertainty of the recommendation for ${{W}}_{{air}}$ was changed from 0.15 to 0.35%.

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Accurate radiation dosimetry is required for radiation protection in various environments. Therefore, dosemeters and dose-rate meters must be calibrated in standard radiation fields. The National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ) expands the energy range of x-ray reference field measurement up to 450 kV using a cylindrical graphite-walled cavity ionization chamber.

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Since the International Commission on Radiological Protection recommended reducing the occupational equivalent dose limit for the lens of the eye in 2011, there have been extensive discussions in various countries. This paper reviews the current situation in radiation protection of the ocular lens and the discussions on the potential impact of the new lens dose limit in Japan. Topics include historical changes to the lens dose limit, the current situation with occupational lens exposures (e.

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After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011, Iitate village was placed under an evacuation order because the level of radioactive materials drifting from the nuclear plant to the village was above a government-set level for allowing residents to live in the area. The evacuation advisory for most of the village was lifted on 31 March 2017. For displaced residents deciding whether or not to return to their homes, it is important to correctly understand and estimate the realistic individual external doses they will receive after returning to the village.

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Sealed radioactive sources which have small activity were employed for the determination of response and tests for non-linearity and energy dependence of detector responses. Close source-to-detector geometry (at 0.3 m or less) was employed to practical tests for portable dose meters to accumulate statistically sufficient ionizing currents.

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The accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on March 11, 2011, released radioactive material into the atmosphere and contaminated the land in Fukushima and several neighboring prefectures. Five years after the nuclear disaster, the radiation levels have greatly decreased due to physical decay, weathering, and decontamination operations in Fukushima. The populations of 12 communities were forced to evacuate after the accident; as of March 2016, the evacuation order has been lifted in only a limited area, and permanent habitation is still prohibited in most of the areas.

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The angular distribution of photon energy spectra emitted from an I-125 brachytherapy source was measured using a specially designed jig in the range of ±70° in the plane of the long axis of the source. It is important to investigate the angular dependence of photon emissions from these sources for the calibration of the air kerma rate. The results show that the influence of the distributions between 0° and ±8° is small enough to allow a calibration using current primary instruments which have a large entrance window.

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Article Synopsis
  • Free-air ionisation chambers are critical at standards laboratories for accurately measuring air kerma in X-ray fields.
  • The diaphragm aperture size in these chambers is vital as it affects the X-ray beam size that interacts with the chamber.
  • This study utilizes Monte Carlo simulation to determine correction factors for X-ray transmission and scatter affecting measurements of different-sized free-air ionisation chambers at various X-ray energies and distances.
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The dependence of the results of air kerma measurements on the orientation of the cylindrical cavity chamber used for beam standardizations is reexamined. The wall attenuation correction factors for the (60)Co and (136)Cs air kerma measurements were obtained for various irradiation angles by extrapolation of the dependences of experimental data and by Monte Carlo simulations. Applying the correction based on extrapolation does not provide an angle-invariant air kerma rate, as desired.

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