Validation of the HZETRN code for laboratory exposures with 1A GeV iron ions in several targets

Twenty years of space radiation physics at the BNL AGS and NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

Highly ionizing atomic nuclei HZE in the GCR will be a significant source of radiation exposure for humans on extended missions outside low Earth orbit. Accelerators such as the LBNL Bevalac and the BNL AGS, designed decades ago for fundamental nuclear and particle physics research, subsequently found use as sources of GCR-like particles for ground-based physics and biology research relevant to space flight. The NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at BNL was constructed specifically for space radiation research. Here we review some of the space-related physics results obtained over the first 20 years of NASA-sponsored research at Brookhaven.

3DHZETRN: Shielded ICRU spherical phantom

A computationally efficient 3DHZETRN code capable of simulating High (H) Charge (Z) and Energy (HZE) and light ions (including neutrons) under space-like boundary conditions with enhanced neutron and light ion propagation was recently developed for a simple homogeneous shield object. Monte Carlo benchmarks were used to verify the methodology in slab and spherical geometry, and the 3D corrections were shown to provide significant improvement over the straight-ahead approximation in some cases. In the present report, the new algorithms with well-defined convergence criteria are extended to inhomogeneous media within a shielded tissue slab and a shielded tissue sphere and tested against Monte Carlo simulation to verify the solution methods. The 3D corrections are again found to more accurately describe the neutron and light ion fluence spectra as compared to the straight-ahead approximation. These computationally efficient methods provide a basis for software capable of space shield analysis and optimization.

Description of transport codes for space radiation shielding

Exposure to ionizing radiation in the space environment is one of the hazards faced by crews in space missions. As space radiations traverse spacecraft, habitat shielding, or tissues, their energies and compositions are altered by interactions with the shielding. Modifications to the radiation fields arise from atomic interactions of charged particles with orbital electrons and nuclear interactions leading to projectile and target fragmentation, including secondary particles such as neutrons, protons, mesons, and nuclear recoils. The transport of space radiation through shielding can be simulated using Monte Carlo techniques or deterministic solutions of the Boltzmann equation. To determine shielding requirements and to resolve radiation constraints for future human missions, the shielding evaluation of a spacecraft concept is required as an early step in the design process. To do this requires (1) accurate knowledge of space environmental models to define the boundary condition for transport calculations, (2) transport codes with detailed shielding and body geometry models to determine particle transmission into areas of internal shielding and at each critical body organ, and (3) the assessment of organ dosimetric quantities and biological risks by applying the corresponding response models for space radiation against the particle spectra that have been accurately determined from the transport code. This paper reviews current transport codes and analyzes their accuracy through comparison to laboratory and spaceflight data. This paper also introduces a probabilistic risk assessment approach for the evaluation of radiation shielding.

DNA damage intensity in fibroblasts in a 3-dimensional collagen matrix correlates with the Bragg curve energy distribution of a high LET particle

PURPOSE

The DNA double-strand break (DSB) damage response induced by high energy charged particles on lung fibroblast cells embedded in a 3-dimensional (3-D) collagen tissue equivalents was investigated using antibodies to the DNA damage response proteins gamma-histone 2AX (gamma-H2AX) and phosphorylated DNA-PKcs (p-DNA-PKcs).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

3-D tissue equivalents were irradiated in positions across the linear distribution of the Bragg curve profiles of 307.7 MeV/nucleon, 556.9 MeV/nucleon, or 967.0 MeV/nucleon (56)Fe ions at a dose of 0.30 Gy.

RESULTS

Patterns of discrete DNA damage streaks across nuclei or saturated nuclear damage were observed, with saturated nuclear damage being more predominant as samples were positioned closer to the physical Bragg peak. Quantification of the DNA damage signal intensities at each distance for each of the examined energies revealed a biological Bragg curve profile with a pattern of DNA damage intensity similar to the physical Bragg curve for the particular energy. Deconvolution microscopy of nuclei with streaked or saturated nuclear damage pattern revealed more details of the damage, with evidence of double-strand breaks radially distributed from the main particle track as well as multiple discrete tracks within saturated damage nuclei.

CONCLUSIONS

These 3-D culture systems can be used as a biological substrate to better understand the interaction of heavy charged particles of different energies with tissue and could serve as a basis to model space-radiation-induced cancer initiation and progression.

A procedure for benchmarking laboratory exposures with 1 A GeV iron ions

A new version of the HZETRN code capable of simulating HZE ions with either laboratory or space boundary conditions is under development. The computational model consists of combinations of physical perturbation expansions based on the scales of atomic interaction, multiple scattering, and nuclear reactive processes with use of asymptotic/Neumann expansions with non-perturbative corrections. The code contains energy loss with straggling, nuclear attenuation, nuclear fragmentation with energy dispersion and downshifts, and off-axis dispersion with multiple scattering under preparation. The present benchmark is for a broad directed beam for 1 A GeV iron ion beams with 2 A MeV width and four targets of polyethylene, polymethyl metachrylate, aluminum, and lead of varying thickness from 5 to 30 g/cm2. The benchmark quantities will be dose, track averaged LET, dose averaged LET, fraction of iron ion remaining, and fragment energy spectra after 23 g/cm2 of polymethyl metachrylate.