A Shielding Concept for the MedAustron Facility

Abstract

MedAustron is a synchrotron based accelerator facility for cancer therapy and research in Wiener Neustadt, 50 km south of Vienna. The facility will provide protons up to kinetic energies of 250 MeV and carbon ions up to 400 MeV/n for ion beam therapy. Additionally, protons up to 800 MeV kinetic energy will be used in a dedicated room for non-clinical research. In order to obtain a shielding concept for this facility a detailed geometry of the accelerator facility was implemented into the Monte-Carlo code FLUKA and shielding simulations were performed. In the course of these simulations the contributions of different particle types to the mixed fields around the accelerator and behind shielding were analysed. In an iterative process with the architect the final design of the shielding concept was developed until it was capable of reducing the effect of secondary radiation on humans and the environment below Austrian legal limits.