| In this article, a new nuclear database for proton therapy applications is proposed. The building of this new database is part of the PROUESSE project which aims at developing a fast and reliable Monte Carlo code for proton dose calculation. In the first section, a review of the existing nuclear databases is done and their limitations identified. The new library is built using the TALYS 1.4 code with default parameters except for the three most important nuclei in proton therapy, 12C, 16O, 40Ca, for which parameters have been adjusted to better fit with available experimental data. Comparisons to results obtained with the INCL intranuclear cascade model are also shown. The database contains the angular elastic distributions, non-elastic cross-sections, production cross-sections for all secondary particles produced and their outgoing energy spectra from 1 MeV to 249 MeV. Sixty nuclei of importance in proton therapy applications have been computed. An evaluated data file for hydrogen has also been produced using NN- Online data. Finally, comparisons between experimental depth-dose profiles in water and MCNPX simulations using our new database, another existing one and the INCL nuclear model are presented. |
