Speaker
Joachim Vollaire
(CERN)
Description
Several processes and activities carried out in the ISOLDE facility for the production and use of Radioactive Ion Beams present radiological risks. For this reason, the Radiation Protection (RP) Group is involved in the daily operation of the facility to ensure that appropriate mitigation measures are implemented and that the relevant Radiation Protection rules and best practices are followed. For example on the RIB production side, such activities span from the production of actinide targets in dedicated laboratories to the preparation and monitoring of the work performed in the target or separator areas. On the experiment side, the RP Group is providing support to the ISOLDE users in all matters related to Radiation Protection and is also responsible for the monitoring of the radiation levels and personnel exposure to ensure that the applicable legal limits are not exceeded. In addition to the daily operation of the facility, the RP Group is also involved in the preparation of the planned intensity and energy upgrade of ISOLDE (in the frame of the HIE-ISOLDE project), as well as in several other projects related to the facility consolidation. In the context of the HIE-ISOLDE project, a very detailed radiation measurement campaign was conducted in 2010 and 2011 inside the facility and in its vicinity. The measured radiation levels were systematically related to the beam parameters and the radiation levels with the planned primary beam intensity increase could therefore be extrapolated. The measurements were also confronted to calculations performed using the Monte-Carlo code FLUKA. Some areas where some shielding reinforcement is needed were identified and the required additional shielding will be assessed using FLUKA. Finally, another important project for the reliability of the facility and for which the RP constraints must be considered is the replacement of the two robot systems used for the target exchange and which are arriving at the end of their lifetime. For the specification of the new system, the RP Group provided the expected radiological environment in which the system will have to evolve and the consequences of a system failure in terms of access in order to anticipate recovery scenarios.
Primary author
Joachim Vollaire
(CERN)
Co-authors
Alexandre Dorsival
(CERN)
Mrs
Christelle SAURY
(CERN DGS-RP)
