Estimate of economic impact of atmospheric radiation storm associated with solar energetic particle events on aircraft operations

Saito, Susumu*; Wickramasinghe, N. K.*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Shiota, Daiko*

Earth, Planets and Space (Internet), 73(1), p.57_1 - 57_10, 2021/12

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-021-01377-5

By using an flight trajectory generation algorithm and the global effective dose rate (EDR) distribution calculated WASAVIES, the economic impacts of SEP events on aircraft operation, namely the flight path length, flight time, and fuel consumption, are estimated. The flight path length, flight time, and fuel consumption for a flight route from New York, US to Tokyo, Japan are estimated with constraints in flight routes to avoid the hazard of radiation and compared with those of the reference case without the SEP effects. Setting more flexible constraints in the flight route and generating optimal flight trajectories with minimal economic impacts by fully utilizing the global EDR distribution is the next step.

Track-structure mode for electrons, protons and carbon ions in the PHITS code

Matsuya, Yusuke; Kai, Takeshi; Ogawa, Tatsuhiko; Hirata, Yuho; Sato, Tatsuhiko

Hoshasen Kagaku (Internet), (112), p.15 - 20, 2021/11

Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) is a general-purpose Monte Carlo code enabling radiation kinetics, which is often used in diverse research fields, such as atomic energy, engineering, medicine and science. After released in 2010, the PHITS code has been developed to expand its functions and to improve its convenience. In the few years, track-structure mode has been introduced in PHITS that can simulate each atomic interaction by electrons, positions, protons and carbon ions in liquid water. Thanks to the development of track-structure mode, the latest PHITS code enables microscopic dose calculations by decomposing it to the scale of DNA. Aiming at realizing the track-structure mode with high precision, the further developments of electron and ion track-structure mode for arbitrary materials are recently ongoing. This review shows the development history and future prospect of PHITS track-structure mode, which can expect to be further applied to the research fields of atomic physics, radiation chemistry, and quantum life science.

Medical application of Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System PHITS

Furuta, Takuya; Sato, Tatsuhiko

Radiological Physics and Technology, 14(3), p.215 - 225, 2021/09

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-021-00628-0

Number of the PHITS users has steadily increased since 2010 from when it is officially counted. Among them, increase of new users in medical physics is outstanding. Many research works in medical physics using PHITS have been published and the applications are widely spread in different fields such as applications to different types of radiotherapy, shielding calculations of medical facilities, application to radiation biology, and research and development of medical tools. In this article, we will introduce useful functions for medical application in PHITS by referring to examples of various medical applications.

Reassessment of organ doses received by A-bomb survivors by precisely reproducing body dimensions of the Japanese in 1945

Sato, Tatsuhiko

Isotope News, (776), p.26 - 28, 2021/08

https://www.jrias.or.jp/pdf/2108_TRACER_SATO.pdf

A Japan-U.S. joint project team was formed, comprising Nuclear Science and Engineering Center of JAEA, RERF, the University of Florida, and the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Members of this project team developed a new set of models of the human body (called phantoms) for adults, children, and pregnant women by precisely reproducing the standard body dimensions of Japanese people in 1945, modeled in detail with the latest CT images and other information. The project team also developed a method for more accurately estimating the organ doses of A-bomb survivors with these phantoms by utilizing the latest computational techniques such as PHITS, which were originated mainly by JAEA. Based on idealized conditions in hypothetical survivors, our initial comparisons of doses using the new phantoms and methods with doses derived from the current dosimetry system found that doses were generally consistent, although for some organs dose estimates could change by approximately 15% at the maximum.

Verification of KURBUC-based ion track structure mode for proton and carbon ions in the PHITS code

Matsuya, Yusuke; Kai, Takeshi; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Liamsuwan, T.*; Sasaki, Kohei*; Nikjoo, H.*

Physics in Medicine & Biology, 66(6), p.06NT02_1 - 06NT02_11, 2021/03

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/abe65e

A general-purpose Monte Carlo radiation transport simulation code, Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS), has the ability to handle diverse particle types over a wide range of energy. In PHITS version 3.20, ion track structure mode has been developed based on the algorithms in the KURBUC code, which enables to simulate the atomic interactions by primary ion and secondary particles (named as PHITS-KURBUC mode). In this study, we compared the range, radial dose distributions, and microdosimetric distributions calculated using the PHITS-KURBUC mode to the corresponding data obtained from the original KURBUC and from other studies. These comparative studies confirm the successful inclusion of the KURBUC code in the PHITS code. As results of the synergistic effect between the macroscopic and microscopic radiation transport codes, this implementation enabled the detailed calculation of the microdosimetric and nanodosimetric quantities under complex radiation fields, such as proton beam therapy with the spread-out Bragg peak. This PHITS-KURBUC mode is expected to pave the way for next-generation radiation researches, such as radiation physics, radiological protection, medical physics, and radiation biology.

Recent progress in space weather research for cosmic radiation dosimetry

Sato, Tatsuhiko

Annals of the ICRP, 49(1_suppl.), p.185 - 192, 2020/12

https://doi.org/10.1177/0146645320933401

The radiation environment in space is a complex mixture of particles of solar and galactic origin with a broad range of energies. For astronaut dose estimation, three sources must be considered, namely, galactic cosmic rays (GCR), trapped particles (TP), and solar energetic particles (SEP). More details about the radiation environment in space will be discussed at the symposium, together with the recent progresses on the space weather research for nowcasting and forecasting the astronaut doses due to SEP exposure.

Modernization of the DCHAIN-PHITS activation code with new features and updated data libraries

Ratliff, H.; Matsuda, Norihiro; Abe, Shinichiro; Miura, Takamitsu*; Furuta, Takuya; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Sato, Tatsuhiko

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 484, p.29 - 41, 2020/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2020.10.005

Evaluation of RBE-weighted doses for various radiotherapy beams based on a microdosimetric function implemented in PHITS

Takada, Kenta*; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Kumada, Hiroaki*; Sakurai, Hideyuki*; Sakae, Takeji*

Journal of Physics; Conference Series, 1662, p.012004_1 - 012004_6, 2020/10

https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1662/1/012004

The University of Tsukuba has developed a treatment planning system (TPS) for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) that uses a Monte Carlo algorithm as a dose calculation engine. In the system, RBE-weighted dose can be also estimated using the microdosimetric function implemented in PHITS. In this study, we calculated the RBE-weighted doses for various radiation therapy beams. Comparison between the calculated results for different radiation therapy beams as well as verification of the calculated data will be presented at the meeting.

Dosimetric impact of a new computational voxel phantom series for the Japanese atomic bomb survivors; Methodological improvements and organ dose response functions

Sato, Tatsuhiko; Funamoto, Sachiyo*; Paulbeck, C.*; Griffin, K.*; Lee, C.*; Cullings, H.*; Egbert, S. D.*; Endo, Akira; Hertel, N.*; Bolch, W. E.*

Radiation Research, 194(4), p.390 - 402, 2020/10

https://doi.org/10.1667/RR15546.1

Owing to recent advances in computational dosimetry tools, it is desirable to update the dosimetry system for the atomic-bomb survivors as it was established by DS02. In the current study, we have investigated the possible impact of introducing not only the J45 phantom series but also various methodological upgrades to the DS02 dosimetry system. It was found that the anatomical improvement in the J45 phantom series is the most important factor leading to potential changes in survivor organ doses. In addition, this study established a series of response functions which allows for the rapid conversion of the unidirectional quasi-monoenergetic photon and neutron fluences to organ doses within the J45 adult phantoms. This system of response functions can be implemented within a revision to the DS02 dosimetry system and used for future updates to organ doses within the Life Span Study of the atomic-bomb survivors.

A Theoretical cell-killing model to evaluate oxygen enhancement ratios at DNA damage and cell survival endpoints in radiation therapy

Matsuya, Yusuke; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Nakamura, Rui*; Naijo, Shingo*; Date, Hiroyuki*

Physics in Medicine & Biology, 65(9), p.095006_1 - 095006_12, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ab7d14

Radio-resistance induced under low oxygen pressure plays an important role in malignant progression in fractionated radiotherapy. For the general approach to predict cell killing under hypoxia, cell-killing models (e.g., the Linear-Quadratic model) have to be fitted to experimental survival data for both normoxia and hypoxia to obtain the oxygen enhancement ratio (OER). However, model parameters for every oxygen condition needs to be considered by model-fitting approaches. This is inefficient for fractionated irradiation planning. Here, we present an efficient model for fractionated radiotherapy the integrated microdosimetric-kinetic model including cell-cycle distribution and the OER at DNA double-strand break endpoint. The cell survival curves described by this model can reproduce the experimental survival data for both acute and chronic low oxygen concentrations. The OER used for calculating cell survival agrees well with experimental DSB ratio of normoxia to hypoxia. This work provides biological effective dose (BED) under various oxygen conditions including its uncertainty, which can contribute to creating fractionated regimens for multi-fractionated radiotherapy. If the oxygen concentration in a tumor can be quantified by medical imaging, the present model will make it possible to estimate the cell-killing and BED under hypoxia in more realistic intravital situations.