IAEA Safety Reports Series No. 47 — Radiation Protection in the Design of Radiotherapy Facilities (2006)
1. Source documents
- Official PDF retained locally — IAEA, 2006; retrieved 16 September 2026.
- Extracted text
- Provenance and SHA-256 metadata
2. Authority and jurisdiction
- IAEA Safety Report providing technical methods and worked examples for radiotherapy facility design and shielding.
- Non-binding technical guidance, not an IAEA Safety Requirement, Queensland statutory standard or site approval.
- Actual THHS premises compliance is determined through Queensland law, the applicable statutory premises standard, approved design inputs and certification by appropriately qualified persons.
3. Key takeaways
- SRS means Safety Reports Series: SRS 47 provides practical methods and worked examples for radiotherapy-facility shielding design, beginning with physical geometry and credible source terms and then considering workload, use, occupancy, distance, barriers and design goals.
- External-beam, simulator/orthovoltage, brachytherapy and special-procedure facilities require different source and radiation-component models.
- Primary, leakage, scatter and—at relevant energies—neutron components must be considered separately before being combined appropriately.
- Worked examples illustrate methods; their assumed workloads, occupancies, dimensions or material properties are not universal local requirements.
- Design calculations require verification by radiation survey after construction and after changes that could affect protection.
4. Summary
4.1. 1 — Introduction
- Defines purpose, scope and intended use of the report for radiotherapy facility shielding design.
4.2. 2 — Terminology
- Establishes shielding quantities and concepts needed for consistent calculations.
4.3. 3 — Design features
- Covers room layout, access, barriers, doors, penetrations, ducts, mazes, warning systems and design coordination.
4.4. 4 — Shielding materials
- Discusses attenuation and practical properties of concrete, lead, steel and other materials, including construction and verification considerations.
4.5. 5 — Calculation methods
- Develops methods for primary, leakage and scattered radiation, occupancy/use/workload factors, distance, barrier transmission and special components.
4.6. 6 — External-beam worked examples
- Demonstrates calculations for representative megavoltage treatment facilities.
4.7. 7 — Simulator and orthovoltage examples
- Applies the framework to lower-energy X-ray facilities and their operating patterns.
4.8. 8 — Brachytherapy worked example
- Demonstrates shielding assessment for a brachytherapy facility and source use.
4.9. 9 — Special procedures
- Addresses geometries or techniques needing additional consideration beyond conventional examples.
4.10. 10 — Radiation survey
- Describes post-construction or post-modification verification that the installed facility performs as designed.
5. Important definitions, roles, limits and records
- Workload
- Source output integrated over a defined period; a design input that must reflect credible local activity.
- Use factor
- Fraction of workload directed toward a barrier.
- Occupancy factor
- Fraction of time an adjacent location is occupied for the design assessment.
- Design goal
- Prospective shielding criterion; it is not automatically identical to a legal dose limit.
- Records
- Approved drawings, assumptions, calculations, material verification, construction changes, survey results and compliance certification.
6. Practical relationship to the THHS RSPP
- Provides the technical evidence layer for the RSPP's compliant-premises, restricted-access, warning/interlock and reassessment controls.
- Helps explain why equipment, workload, location or surrounding-occupancy changes can trigger shielding review and recertification.
- Use the current Queensland premises standard and certificate process for binding requirements; use this report as technical support rather than local policy. No direct incorporation of SRS 47 into that standard is asserted.