Accelerator room photoneutron and photon background measurements using thermoluminescent dosimeters

Photoneutron dose equivalents and photon doses in the treatment room of a clinical linear accelerator were measured with sets of isotopically enriched LiF thermoluminescent dosimeters and a moderating sphere. Dosimeter neutron calibrations with 252Cf sources were repeated many times during the extended series of measurements because the 6LiF dosimeter sensitivity increased with successive neutron irradiations. Expressed as a fraction of the primary bremsstrahlung beam dose at maximum, the photoneutron background was 2.04 +/- 0.05 mrem/rad (10(-3) Sv/Gy) at 1 m lateral to beam center in the patient midplane at 25 MV. The fraction of this result due to thermal neutrons was found to be only about 2%. The photon background dose was 2.98 +/- 0.04 mrad/rad (10(-3) Gy/Gy). The photoneutron dose equivalent per unit primary dose was found to be nearly independent of the collimator size used but increased by 40% when the bremsstrahlung endpoint energy was increased from 20 to 35 MeV with no change in flattening filters.