Chest wall thickness measurements of the LLNL phantom for small area germanium detector counting

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) phantom was developed to calibrate lung counting systems that are used to estimate plutonium and other low energy photon emitting radionuclides deposited in the lung. Originally, low energy photon counting systems consisted of sodium iodide or phoswich detectors, but they have been largely replaced by smaller germanium detector arrays. The average chest wall thicknesses of the LLNL phantom's torso plate and its overlay plates provided by the manufacturer refer to the regions covered by phoswich detectors; however, germanium detectors are of a different size and are placed in different locations on the phantom's torso plate. Previous work has shown that the manufacturer's data were not applicable for large area germanium detectors. The lung counting system at the Korea Atomic Energy Institute (KAERI) is a small area germanium detector array. Although the detectors are placed within the phoswich circles, only about 25% of the area is covered by the detectors. The LLNL phantom at KAERI has been examined to determine if the manufacturer's data are valid or if new chest wall thickness values must be determined. This paper presents chest wall thickness data for the LLNL phantom with and without its B-series overlay plates at 17 keV, 60 keV, 200 keV, and 1,500 keV and shows that these values are different from the manufacturer's values.