Medical physics students' training using MCNP code

The Monte Carlo N-particle transport code MCNP 4B/4C was successfully used to train the students of Masters Degree Program in Medical Physics in King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. The code was used in class projects for two courses; Radiological Physics & Dosimetry and Radiation Therapy Physics. In Radiological Physics & Dosimetry, the code was used to calculate the x-ray dose distribution due to photon energies of 1, 2 and 5 MeV in geometries that mimic human chest, head and leg using aluminum for bone and water for soft tissue. The dose distributions for these energies were calculated at different depths of the geometries and compared with the calculated theoretical values. The simulated results show a very good agreement with the theoretical values obtained from the "Broad Beam Geometry". In Radiation Therapy Physics course, the code was used to simulate collimated linear accelerator photon beam interaction with a water phantom at 100cm source to surface distance (SSD). The percent depth dose (PDD) at different phantom depths for different photon beam energies (e.g., 1.25 MeV, 6 MeV) were calculated. The simulated results were in very good agreement with the published data. These studies show that MCNP is a very powerful tool in training medical physics students at KFUPM particularly in dosimetry and radiation transport calculations.