INTERNATIONAL ACCELERATOR RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION E-MAIL (IARPE) NEWSLETTER "The Official Publication of the Accelerator Section of the Health Physics Society" (with Contributions from International Correspondents) ====================================================================== May 1993 Vol. #2, #4 ====================================================================== OFFICERS ====================================================================== President: Ralph Thomas, LLNL Past President: Wade Patterson, LLNL President-Elect: Geoff Stapleton, SSCL Secretary/Treasurer:Nisy Ipe, SLAC Directors (1 Year): Frank Masse', MIT BATES Paul Neeson, D.O.E. Directors (2 Year): Gerald Fallon, MIT BATES Paula Trinoskey, LLNL Directors (3 Year): Carter Ficklen, CEBAF Jerry Miller, LANL >From the Editor's Terminal (Bob May ) ====================================================================== Last issue, Ralph Thomas submitted an article by the Associated Press covering the incident at Electron Beam Systems in Forbach, France. The "Forbach Incindent", or rather, information about the incident has been incomplete and some confusion has resulted. This is nothing new for the press. However, when Ralph submitted article, I included it in the April newsletter with no editorial comment. As a result, the information (quality and content) may have been attributed to Ralph. This is not the case. My apologies for any confusion I caused on this issue. Please read on for additional information about the "Forbach Incident" supplied by Graham Stevenson. It may serve to answer some of the questions left by the AP article reproduced in the last issue. Bob May, Editor >From the President ====================================================================== This will be my penultimate message as "the big P" and at such times we often turn to nostalgia. As your president it has been a good and professionally satisfying year for me. Judging by recent events in the Whitehouse no one in their right mind would ever aspire to the title "President". This is, however, only for politicians! (by the way where did all the "statesmen" go?) For those in science things are better. To have been President of the fledgling Accelerator Section and to serve you all has been a privilege beyond compare. Our section is now a sturdy toddler and is growing rapidly. In Atlanta you will have the opportunity to hear the reports of your officers and to elect to office those that will contine to act in loco parentis of our favourite professional child. Please attend our Annual Meeting in Atlanta and contibute to child welfare. Ralph. H. thomas (Thanks Ralph, for being an outstanding "guardian ad litem", Ed.) Proposed Changes to the Accelerator Section Charter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Division of the Section Secretary/Treasurer into two separate offices; an office of Section Secretary and an office of Section Treasurer. 2. Addition of the office of Section Editor to the officers of the Accelerator Section. SUGGESTED WORDING CHANGES a. Article II, Jurisdiction In the sentence, "The Headquarters of the Section shall be located with the Secretary/Treasurer of the Section.", change the term "Secretary/Treasurer" to "Secretary." b. Article IV, Administration, Section 2 In the sentence, "The elected officers of the Section shall be a President, a President- elect, a Secretary/Treasurer...", change the term a "Secretary/ Treasurer" to "Secretary." Add the term ", a Treasurer, and an Editor" immediately following. c. Article IV, Administration, Section 5 In the tenth line of this section, change the term "Secretary/Treasurer" to "Secretary." Add the term ", a Treasurer, and an Editor" immediately following. 3. The creation of a Parlimentarian function to the Accelerator Section was reviewed. The review concludednthat this function could be an annual appointive position name by the incomming Section President following the annual election. The selection of one of the six Section Board members (Directors) for this function is recommended. A change to the Section Charter would not be necessary... Submitted to Ralph Thomas by Carter Ficklen A Book Review ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A GUIDE TO RADIATION AND RADIOACTIVITY LEVELS NEAR HIGH ENERGY PARTICLE ACCELERATORS A.H. Sullivan Published by Nuclear Technology Publishing, P.O. Box 7, Ashford, Kent, TN231YW, England, (1992) ISBN 1 870965 18 3, ii-xiv +161pp, P 27 (hardback) This is a relatively short book, but covers a wide range of practical problems. After an initial chapter on high energy particle interactions, there follow chapters on shielding for high energy particles, high energy electron machines and included radioactivity. The text, tables and figures are presented so as to enable the reader to solve real problems of accelerator design quickly and with adequate precision for health physics purposes, using simple formulae or graphs. This avoids lengthy calculations or the use of computers. (There is almost no mention of shielding or other programs). The wide scope of the book can be illustrated by giving a few examples of particular topics dealt with: radiation damage, skyshine, muon shielding, synchrotron radiation, multi-legged chicanes, and radioactivity in air release plumes. Much of the information is presented without reference to its origins, but this is probably acceptable in the interest of an uncluttered text in such a slender volume. More information or detailed theory can be found by using the lists of references which follow each chapter. The author's stated intention, which he has fully achieved, is to provide "a practical guide for accelerator physics, engineers and technicians rather than a scholarly review for the expert." Experienced accelerator health phyisists will find this a concise but comprehensive and well-indexed handbook, yet it could also be used as a very readable basic textbook for newcomers to the field. David R. Perry Rutherford Laboratory Chilton Didcot Oxon Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 46, pp 213-216 (1993) Eighth International Conference on Radiation Shielding ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Last year while planning the 1994 American Nuclear Society Radiation Protection and Shielding Division Topical Meeting, a decision was made to expand the meeting into the 8th International Conference on Radiation Shielding (ICRS8). The North Texas Section is the local ANS section sponsoring the meeting. It will be held April 24-27, 1994 at the Arlington Hilton in Arlington, Texas (817/640-3322). A recently issued Call-for-Papers solicits 600-900 word summaries (original plus to copies) or review. These summaries should be mailed by August 31, 1993 to the Technical Program Chair (Nolan E. Hertel of the Health Physics Program, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405). Authors will be notified of acceptance of their papers during early October 1993. Full camera-ready papers must be submitted by January 1, 1994 to be included in the proceedings. Dick Rubin of TU Electric is serving as the Chairman of ICRS8 and R.W. Roussin of the Radiation Information Shielding Center (ORNL) is acting as the International Liaison for the meeting. Tentative session topics include: High-Energy Particles & Accelerator Shielding; Aircraft and Space Radiation/Shielding; Materials, Nuclear Data and Experiments; Shielding Methods and Design; PC Applications and Software; Semi-Empirical Techniques; Radiation Transport Methods & Applications; Geometry Description Software; Monte Carlo Methods & Applications; Sensitivity & Uncertainty Analysis; Waste Management & Disposal; Dosimetry; Spent Fuel Handling, Consolidation, Transportation & Storage; Fusion Reactors: Nucleonics and Shielding; Licensing and Regulation; Instrumentation & Equipment Qualification; Reactor Shielding; Pressure Vessel Damage: Calculations, Dosimetry & Standards; Radiation Effects; Characterization Of Radiation Environments; Fluence-to-Dose-Equivalent Conversion Factors; Radiation Measurement, Instrumentation & Analysis; and Medical Applications. In addition papers on any other topic of general interest to the shielding and operational health physics communities would be appropriate for submission." The original "call for papers" announcement follows: EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RADIATION SHIELDING sponsored by ANS Radiation Protection and Shielding Division North Texas Section ANS CALL FOR PAPERS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 600-900 word summaries (original and 2 copies) of proposed papers should be submitted to: ICRS8 Technical Program Chair, Nolan E. Hertel, Health Physics Program, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0405 USA FAX: (404) 894-3733 E-MAIL: nolan@me.gatech.gov Deadline for submittal is August 31, 1993. Authors will be notified of selection on or about October 1, 1993. Full papers will be due by January 1, 1994 for inclusion in the proceedings which will be distributed at the meeting. The conference will be held at the Arlington Hilton, 2401 East Lamar Blvd., Arlington, Texas 76006. Phone: (817) 640-3322. The Hilton is 10 minutes from the DFW airport. Arlington is 15 minutes from Fort Worth to the West and Dallas to the East. Session Topics: High-Energy Particles & Accelerator Shielding Aircraft and Space Radiation Shielding Materials, Nuclear Data & Experiments Shielding Methods & Design PC Applications & Software Semi-Empirical Techniques Radiation Transport Methods & Applications Geometry Description Software Monte Carlo Methods Sensitivity & Uncertainty Analysis Waste Management/Disposal Dosimetry Spent Fuel Handling, Consolidation, Transportation & Storage Fusion Reactors & Shielding Licensing and Regulation, Instrumentation & Equipment Qualification Reactor Shielding Pressure Vessel Damage: Calculations, Dosimetry & Standards Radiation Effects Characterization Of Radiation Environments Fluence-to-Dose-Equivalent Conversion Factors Radiation Measurement, Instrumentation & Analysis Medical Applications Other topics of interest to the shielding community. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Organizing Committee N. Hertel, Technical Program Chair R.M. Rubin, General Chair B. Wehring, Publications Chair R. Roussin, International Liason D. Tirsun, Finance Chair J.T. Bosma, Arrangements Chair Charles & Janie Rombough, Guest Program & Special Events Chair R. Swanson, Exhibits Chair B. Prince, Registration Chair J. Price, Public Information Chair Sincerely, Lutz Moritz NEWS FROM IARPENL CORRESPONDENTS ====================================================================== News from CERN (Graham Stevenson ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In the last newsletter there was a statement... which could lead people to think that the incident was due to induced radioactivity. The phrase in question in "they were exposed to residual radiation..." My information comes from a statement of the SCPRI issued about the incident in the December 1991 issue of Radioprotection (the house journal of the SFRP - the French equivalent to HP). The following is my translation. "...are in hospital for the treatment of extensive skin burns provoked by high-energy electrons (2.5 MeV). The ICT accelerator has a high- voltage generator which uses a transformer isolated using gas at high pressure. The beam intensity is normally 30mA which allows a dose rate of 16000 grays (1.6 Mrad) per second. It appears that the burns were the results of interventions in the irradiation hall while the high voltage was kept on to gain time. Only the intensity is cut in these conditions, the residual current (several microamperes) was unfortunately still sufficient to give skin exposures of several tens of grays (thousands of rads) per minute, or even per second, depending on the exact position of the persons, who had no idea of their endangered position." >From my look at TV news of the trials it appears that the workers entered the irradiation room through the hole in the wall where the conveyor belt carrying the irradiated samples left the hall. This was not covered by an interlocked grid. It appears that this was not the first time they had got in this way. This is my assessment of a TV report and not an official statement! It appears that there is confusion in the Associated Press report over the word residual. We use it to mean residual (induced) radioactivity whereas the SCPRI report talks only of residual current. As usual there can be intense confusion over the way in which the French word "radioactivit\'e" can mean direct radiation or radioactive contamination. Thus "radioactivit\'e residuelle" could be translated either as "residual radiation" or as "residual radioactivity". From what I saw of the skin burns it looked like a typical case of extended beam exposure to me. I don't see how they could have got the dose rates from induced radioactivity!... Graham Stevenson [Thanks to Graham Stevenson for the additional information. Please keep us updated if there is new information. Ed.] News from Italy (A.Rindi ) --------------------------------------------------------------------- The construction of the synchrotron radiation facility Elettra in Trieste (Italy) is progressing at a fast pace. The storage ring installation is under completion: all the magnets have been installed and aligned, half of the vacuum chamber is in place. The Linac is in operation and the commissioning of the transfer line with a prelimi- nary beam of about 1 GeV will be accomplished by the end of May. The SLED cavities in the Linac shall be fully operational in June. All the shielding blocks for the ring are built and stored ready for transport to the final position: part of them are made of ordinary concrete (d=2.3) and part of heavy concrete (d=3.8). We are aiming at having a stored beam in September (God help us!!). The health physics group has installed a series of radiation loss monitors along the Linac and the transfer line (15 monitors at present). They are positioned at about 1 meter from the beam line at the end of each accelerating section in the Linac and close to the horizontal and vertical deflection magnets in the transfer line. They shall monitor the beam losses during acceleration and we would like to try to relate them to the dose outside the shielding and on the site. In addition they should give qualitative and, perhaps, also quantitative indications on induced radioactivity along the beam path. The detectors are low cost solid state detectors triggered for a short time by the beam starter(10 Hz). The readings can also be integrated over long periods. We will report on their performances and use. News from the SSCL (Jeff Bull ) --------------------------------------------------------------------- There has been significant progress at the SSCL the past several months. In January, the first tunnel boring machine began construc- tion of the horizontal tunnel for the collider. Since then, tunnel- ing has been proceeding at a record breaking pace, including one day where 325 ft of tunnel was bored. As of May 24, a total of 4 tunnel boring machines are in operation and have bored more than 7 miles of tunnel, 13% of the 54 mile collider ring. In other construction news, the LINAC tunnel has been completed and was turned over to the SSC for beneficial occupancy on May 24. In addition, cut-and-cover under- ground excavation is proceeding on the Low Energy Booster and part of the Medium Energy Booster tunnels. On another front, work is also proceeding on the accelerators themselves. The RFQ, the second stage of the of the ion source, has successfully produced H- beams of 2.5 MeV. Testing of the RFQ and beam measurements will continue until August, when the entire LINAC injector is scheduled to move to its permanent position in the Source Gallery of the LINAC building. The SSCL is only seven orders of magni- tude away from its goal of 20 TeV protons!. Jeff Bull FROM THE MEMBERSHIP ====================================================================== Murphy's law of thermodynamics: Things go wrong under pressure. ...from daughter Kate who is doing PhD work in biochemistry at Cambridge, through Graham Stevenson. More cartoon physics... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cartoon Law III. Any body passing through solid matter will leave a perforation conforming to its perimeter. Also called the silhouette of passage, this phenomenon is the speciality of victims of directed-pressure explosions and of reckless cowards who are so eager to escape that they exit directly through the wall of a house, leaving a cookie-cutout- perfect hole. The threat of skunks or matrimony often catalyzes this reaction. Thanks to Suzie Thomas for the providing the physics hy-jinx; through Ralph Thomas. CLOSING THOUGHTS ====================================================================== "It was as if , suddenly, we had broken into a walled orchard, where protected trees had flourished and all kinds of exotic fruits had ripened in great profusion, ..." A recollection by Cecil Powell, a student of Charles Wilson who did pioneering work with the use of photographic emulsion for detecting subatomic particles.