Radiation protection of workers associated with secondary neutrons produced by medical linear accelerators

This paper presents a measurement campaign carried out in six medical electron linear accelerator facilities to evaluate occupational exposure associated with photons and secondary neutrons for several encountered configurations. No strong correlation between dose and configuration has been observed. Assuming realistic hypotheses, the annual effective dose to staff due to external exposure has been estimated to 0.9 mSv, 54% associated with the decay of activation products and 7% due to exposure to leakage neutrons.