Radiation shielding of multiple x-ray sources in diagnostic radiology.

A unified approach to the problem of barrier thickness calculations for diagnostic x-ray rooms containing multiple x-ray tubes emitting primary, scatter, and leakage radiation is presented. Given the reasonable constraint that all x-ray tubes in a room operate at the same maximum potential (kVp), the required barrier thickness is determined completely and accurately from a single transcendental equation relating the Kux and BLx values calculated for each radiation source separately. A useful approximation to this is discussed and examples given.