Monte Carlo modeling of Indonesian Gedong mango: Development and validation of a dose prediction tool for...

Accurate absorbed dose assessment is essential in phytosanitary irradiation to ensure effective pest disinfestation while maintaining fruit quality. However, realistic Monte Carlo (MC) models for tropical fruits remain limited, particularly for Indonesian export commodities. This study presents the first MC modeling of the Indonesian Gedong mango by combining CT scan based geometry and experimentally measured CHN composition within the RT-PHITS framework for dose simulation. The three-dimensional geometry of the mango was reconstructed from CT scan data and integrated with elemental composition data to achieve a realistic representation of fruit tissue. This integration enabled the model to reproduce both the physical structure and internal heterogeneity of the mango, including distinctions between the flesh and seed regions. The similar mass densities and attenuation properties of the Gedong mango flesh and seed indicate that both regions are nearly water-equivalent materials. The developed MC mango model showed excellent agreement with experimental measurements using alanine dosimeters, with relative differences of less than 6.0 %. The simulated dose profiles along the central axes exhibited a relatively uniform dose distribution, with a Dose Uniformity Ratio (DUR) ranging from 1.51 to 1.66, within the acceptable range defined by IAEA TRS-481. These findings demonstrate the potential of MC simulation as a practical tool for improving dose assessment in phytosanitary irradiation of tropical fruits, particularly the Indonesian Gedong mango variety. The developed model effectively predicted absorbed dose distributions and supported more efficient optimization of irradiation conditions and dose mapping design.