Qualifying numerical tools for reconstructing physical doses in the case of accidental exposure to ionising radiation

Nowadays, when accidental exposure to ionising radiation occurs, clinical observations, and biological and physical investigations are usually taken into account to estimate the seriousness of the irradiation and, subsequently, to determine suitable therapy. A supplementary means based on a realistic numerical simulation of the accident situation may also be used, in order to assess the absorbed dose distribution inside the body. This can be particularly useful for localised irradiation, for which biological dosimetry is more often of limited relevance. This paper mainly describes the qualification of the computer code, the geometrical models and the techniques to reduce uncertainties. For specific configurations corresponding to the most frequent radiological accidents, all uncertainties are evaluated.