Abstracts from the Accelerator Section Special Session of the 2006 Annual Health Physics Meeting
For our readers who will not be able to attend the 51st Annual Meeting of the Health Physics Society, we're providing several abstracts of the presentations that will be given at the Accelerator Section Special Session.
A new generation of accelerator facilities specifically designed to produce beams of exotic radioactive ion beams have been constructed or are being planned. This paper will describe the radiological safety issues specific to these new facilities and some of the challenges that remain to be addressed, with emphasis on the experience at the ISAC facility at TRIUMF. Topics include the shielding of the high-power beam lines and target system, the handling and disposal of the targets used to produce the ion beams, and the special challenges of using actinide targets.
In 1992, the author was encouraged by the Director of Fermilab to develop and teach a course on accelerator radiation protection, for optional academic credit, as part of the United States Particle Accelerator School (USPAS). The initial course was presented at Florida State University in 1993. With significant corrections, improvements, upgrades, and additions and the help of a number of collaborators, it has subsequently been taught at eight additional sessions of the USPAS. In modified formats, it has been presented in other venues and once as a stand-alone course for academic credit. The content resides in the form of a Fermilab Technical Memorandum, now in its ninth revision, of some 300 pages. Several topics beyond the domain of health physics as commonly defined, such as charged particle optics and hydrogeology, are included. The audience reached by this course includes a wide spectrum of backgrounds and plausibly represents a means of outreach to people who are not otherwise professionally involved with health physics. In this paper the operation of this course within the framework of the USPAS is summarized, the topical composition of the course outlined, and an analysis of the professional interests of the students presented. Anecdotal pedagogical experiences with the students are discussed. It is concluded that this course is of value to both the larger accelerator community and to practitioners of accelerator health physics. The rewards of teaching this material to a diverse audience have been found to be considerable.
*This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC02-76CH03000.
The latest development and status of the ANSI N43.1 standard "Radiation Safety for the Design and Operation of Particle Accelerators" are described. The standard sets forth the requirements and recommendations for accelerator facilities to provide adequate radiation protection for the workers, the public, and the environment. The standard applies to the design, installation, commissioning, operation, maintenance, upgrades, and decommissioning of accelerator facilities; i.e., the complete life cycle of the facility. The standard specifies the requirements and recommendations for both the management and the technical aspects of the radiation safety program, graded to the complexity and hazard levels of the facility. This standard is applicable to all accelerator facilities, except facilities utilizing accelerators solely for medical applications (human or veterinary). Chapter 2 of the standard provides the definitions of common terms. Chapter 3 specifies the radiation safety programs for the accelerator facilities. Chapter 4 provides details of the requirements and recommendations for the radiation safety system(s) (RSS), which are used to control prompt radiation hazards. The RSS includes the access control system (ACS) and radiation control system (RCS). Chapter 5 describes the details of the ACS, while Chapter 6 describes the details of the RCS. Chapter 7 covers the accelerator operations. The operational radiation safety program is described in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 covers the personnel training. There are five appendices to provide detailed guidance and resources in addressing the five key issues: 1) development of the safety assessment document, 2) design and implementation of the interlocked-type ACS systems, 3) decommissioning program, 4) measurements of radiation and radioactivity, and 5) safety standards for commercially available and/or production-type accelerators.