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) ====================================================================== September/October 1994 Vol. 3, #4 ====================================================================== OFFICERS ====================================================================== President: Nisy Ipe, SLAC President-Elect: Bob May, CEBAF Past President: Geoff Stapleton, SSC Secretary: Steve Musolino, BNL Treasurer: Joe McDonald, PNL Newsletter Editor: Lutz Moritz, TRIUMF Directors: Lorraine Day (1997) Don Cossairt (1997),FNAL De Vaughn Nelson (1996) Paula Trinoskey (1996),LLNL Jerry Miller (1995), LAMPF Carter Ficklen (1995), CEBAF >From the Editor Lutz Moritz ====================================================================== At the moment there appears to be a lot of hand-wringing at the DOE labs about training of radiation workers. For an outsider, the prescriptive approach taken by the US regulators which defines in detail what training is required, appears absurdly restrictive. In my own experience, the Canadian regulations have only a vague requirement that radiation workers be informed of the risk of working with radiation and that they be sufficiently trained so as to be competent in protecting themselves in the radiation work environment. This means that we are completely free to design our own training curriculum. However it also means that we have to mount sufficient resources to design a training program from scratch to suit our specific facility. At TRIUMF we follow a fairly traditional approach with a series of lectures on the basics of radiation, radioactivity, risks, dose limits etc. Each lecture is followed by a quiz in multiple choice format. The lecture series is followed by a day of 'practical' training which includes the use of different types of monitors, techniques for shielding, proper use of protective clothing, decontamination of a surface using a short-lived radioisotope (F-18) etc. There is a final test which consists of appoximately 30 questions chosen at random from the daily quizzes. Again the test, but not its content, are mandated by the regulators. We are presently revising the curriculum and investigating possibilities of having the lecture series replaced by a series of 'self-teaching' modules. The reason is that often the relevant educational background of those attending the training varies over a wide range (from janitorial to PhD in particle physics) making it difficult to keep up the same level of understanding and interest. I would be interested to hear in these pages from anyone with experience and innovative ideas. Please also note the attached directions for renewal of membership in the Accelerator Section of the Health Physics Society. >From the President Nisy Elizabeth Ipe ====================================================================== INTRODUCING THE INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD (IAB) It gives me great pleasure to introduce the members of our Inter- national Advisory Board: Dr. Manfred Hoefert ---------------------------------------- Dr. Hoefert studied physics in Hamburg, Tuebingen, Goettingen and Munich and has a diploma in Physics and a doctorate from the University of Munich. He worked as a scientific assistant in the field of dosimetry at GSF, Munich (1960-1966) and in the areas of ESR, fluorescence, phosphorescence and spectroscopy at the Max Planck Institute for Radiation Chemistry (1966-1968). He joined CERN in 1968 and is currently the head of CERN's Radiation Protection Group. This group is is responsible for all aspects of radiation protection at CERN's accelerators (including prompt radiation, radiation from induced radioactivity, individual dosimetry, environmental monitoring, new projects, radioactive waste, calibration and non-ionizing radiation). His primary area of interest is individual dosimetry. Dr. Takashi Nakamura --------------------------------------------------------- After obtaining his Master's degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1962, from Kyoto University, Dr. Nakamura worked as a research associate at Kyoto University and was awarded his doctorate in 1970. He was a guest researcher of Atomenergi AB in Studsvik, Sweden. Between 1973 and 1975 he served as associate professor at the Institute for Nuclear Study, University of Tokyo. Since 1986 he has been working as professor, Cyclotron and Radio- isotope Center, Tohoku University and is also a visiting professor at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences. With numerous publications to his credit, his research interests are wide and varied and include Mossbauer effect, radiation transport of photons and neutrons, neutron dosimetry, instrumentation, internal dosimetry, cross-section measurements, space radiation, and radioactive waste transmutation. Dr. Maurizzio Pelliccioni ------------------------------------------- Born in Rome in 1937, Dr. Pelliccioni has a degree in Physics from Rome University and has been working at the Frascati National Laboratories of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) since 1961. At present he is the leader of the Radiation Protection Group at the Institute, and also has been teaching dosimetry and radiation protection at the School of Specialization in Health Physics, University of Rome since 1970. He is the author or co-author of more than 140 papers on dosimetry (mainly of neutrons) and radiation protection (primarily at accelerator facilities). He has also authored three volumes of a book (in Italian) on dosimetry and radiation protection. Dr. David R. Perry ------------------------------- Dr. Perry started his career in 1956 at an industrial lab developing and constructing electron linacs for radiotherapy, etc. There, part of his duties included providing advice on radiation protection at the various labs. During this time he also obtained a Master's degree in radiation physics. He joined the Rutherford Laboratory, where he was in charge of operational health physics for a 7 GeV proton synchrotron, and later earned a PhD for studies of a radiobiological pion beam facility. He now serves as the Radiation Protection Adviser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He also supports research including neutrino and muon experiments and is involved in health physics studies, and assessments for various projects at Rutherford and CEBAF. He has also been responsible for editing part of the revised NCRP guidelines for accelerators. SECTION BUSINESS Nisy E. Ipe ====================================================================== QUARTERLY REPORT ON ACTIVITIES OF THE ACCELERATOR SECTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATIONAL SCENE......... HPS Meeting - San Francisco ---------------------------------- Letters of thanks were sent out to all those who worked hard and participated in making the Accelerator Session and the night-out a big success. A letter was sent to Vashek Vylet in response to his comments in the IARPE Newsletter (July 1994) acknowledging his suggestions and explaining the circumstances due to which the bylaws had not been circulated, prior to the general meeting in San Francisco. Accelerator Section PR ---------------------- Per request of the editor of the HPS Newsletter, an announcement about the Acelerator Section was sent to the HPS Newsletter to be published in the October issue. Seventy eight letters were sent to radiation protection organiz- ations world wide with an announcement about the Accelerator Section and a membership application form. We would like to express Our gratitude to Rosemary Wedding, Secretary, SLAC Radiation Physics Department for this endeavour. THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE.......... International Advisory Board (IAB) ---------------------------------- The International Advisory Board comprised of Manfred Hoefert, Takashi Nakamura, Maurizzio Pelliccioni and David Perry has been established. IRPA9, Vienna, 1996 ------------------- A tentative program (subject to the approval of the Program Committee) for the Accelerator Session at the IRPA meeting in Vienna has been proposed. The program will include four invited talks and a refresher course on shielding of electron and proton machines. The Section is deeply appreciative of Manfred Hoefert's efforts in coordinating the planning of the Accelerator Session. COMMITTEES/TASKS The following committees and individuals have been appointed for the listed tasks. Accelerator Section Activities, HPS Meeting, Boston 1995 -------------------------------------------------------- Bob May will be responsible for planning and coordinating the technical program of the Accelerator Section at the Annual Health Physics Society Meeting in Boston from July 23 -27, 1995. The HPS meeting will be a joint meeting with the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. Steve Musolino is responsible for planning the Accelerator Section Night Out. Accelerator Section Membership Directory ---------------------------------------- Joe McDonald has agreed to develop a directory of Accelerator Section members, including address, phone no., fax no. and E-Mail address. The directory will be available to members (ONLY) by November 30, 1994. Scientific Panel ---------------- Chaired by Ken Kase one of the primary tasks of this committee will be to examine the feasibility of establishing a calibration facility in the U.S. for neutrons with energy greater than 20 MeV. Nominating Committee -------------------- This committee chaired by Wade Patterson will provide a list of nominations for the following positions by April 1, 1995: President-Elect Treasurer (2-year term) Two executive board members (3-year term) Rules Committee --------------- Carter Ficklen will chair the Rules Committee. The Section is greatly indebted to Carter for his work in developing the bylaws of the Section. Long Range Planning Committee ----------------------------- Chaired by Bob Casey, this committee will identify and help implement long range plans. Bibliography ------------ Ralph Thomas has agreed to produce an annotated bibliography of literature pertaining to accelerator radiation protection. Training -------- Paula Trinoskey, Executive Board member, will provide frequent updates on the requirements and status of training at accelerator facilities. MEETINGS Bob May ====================================================================== The 1995 Annual Health Physics Meeting will be held in Boston from July 23 through July 27. The Accelerator Section is seeking contributions for the technical session to be held during the annual meeting. The Accelerator Section has enjoyed three very successful technical sessions due to the willing participation of those involved in Accelerator Radiation Protection. Please join you colleagues in considering submitting a poster or paper for the Annual Meeting. Watch for the call for papers in the HPS Newsletter. If you are not a member of the Health Physics Society or the Accelerator Section through a Health Physics Society affiliate, please contact Bob May for information at phone 804-249-7632 or by E-mail at . NEWS FROM IARPENL CORRESPONDENTS ====================================================================== News from DESY Herbert Dinter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HERA continues to progress towards achieving its design values. In particular the beam currents were increased in the last months and the shielding we calculated 10 years ago has now to prove its validity. The proton beam at 820 GeV has reached 50 mA (1/3 design) with a life- time of more than 100 h. The storage ring is normally refilled once per day. Three months ago the electrons initially used to collide with the protons were replaced by positrons. This change resulted in a life-time of the circulating beam of around 10 hours, twice as high as with electrons. The beam positron energy amounts to 26 GeV and the current presently is 40 mA (2/3 design) just after the filling. Two detectors (ZEUS and H1) benefit from the higher luminosity of the colliding beams. A total luminosity of 3.6 pb**(-1) was collected since May and there is a good chance that 5 pb**(-1) will be reached by the end of November after which a 4 months shut down will begin. The detectors are self shielding moveable objects. A layer of 50 cm of concrete in addition to the inherent heavy detector material covers the set-up completely so that people can work at their elect- ronics very close to the detectors. This concept led to local dose rates in the halls and around the detectors of less than 0.1 mSv per month during the current year. Two more experimental halls are presently without detectors and shielding walls of 1.6 m of heavy concrete (density = 3.7 g/cm**3) are built parallel to the beams on both sides and they have a roof on the top. Local dose rates of less than 0.25 mSv per month were found, mainly resulting from streaming through ducts and cable labyrinths. There are two candidates to occupy these halls and we are just calculating and designing the shielding. One is named HERMES. It uses only the electron (or positron) beam and takes advantage of its unique quality of being polarized. The circulating lepton beam builds up a transversal polarization and in test runs a degree of polarization of 60 % was reached routinely. The spin of the leptons is rotated to a longitudinal direction and then they made to interact with polarized protons or deuterons in a gaseous target. In this way spin-dependent phenomena of nucleons are to be investigated. As the experimental set-up is relatively small no severe shielding problems are expected. The second experiment will probably cause more difficulties with respect to proper shielding. The experiment is called HERA-B and its objection is to produce B-mesons by means of the proton beam. It is planned as a fixed target experiment where the target consists of a thin wire which interacts with the protons of the beam halo. No considerable reduction of beam life time was found in test runs when approaching the wire to the proton beam but without touching it. It is expected to get rates of secondary particles of 20 MHz or even more into the hall which will have to be shielded. As the space available for the experiment is small compared with the demands of the physicists, good compromises have to be found between conflicting interests of radiation protection and experiment. The process is not yet finished. As a result, our concept to shield the established detectors has been proved to be all right. No 'Radiation Controlled Area' had to be installed inside the experimental halls. A hypothetical person working 40 h per week very close to the detector would have received less than 0.1 mSv per month in the last half year. News from FERMILAB Dave Boehnlein ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Collider run 1b continues as the Tevatron has set a new luminosity record (1.28 E31 cm-2 s-1) providing protons and antiprotons to the CDF and D0 collider experiments. Both experiments continue to accumulate data in their search for the top quark and physics beyond the standard model. However, even the busiest physicist must occasionally (every two years at Fermilab) take time out for radiation safety training. Those readers who work at DOE labs are already well aware of the training requirements in the DOE Radiological Control Manual and many have already implemented Radiation Worker (RW) training. Those same readers are probably also painfully aware the the RW training core materials provided by DOE were not written with accelerator facilities in mind. Article 664 of the Rad Con Manual recommends the development of additional training for accelerator facilities, while DOE Order 5480.25 goes beyond the recommendation and mandates it. To address this need, a working group comprised of members from several DOE accelerator laboratories (ANL, CEBAF, FNAL, LBL, LLNL, SLAC) has been working on the development of core training materials for accelerators. We have completed a draft lesson plan and hope to have a draft version of the study guide completed by next month. These will be sent out to the DOE labs for review and comment when the drafts are finished. We have endeavoured to familiarize the trainee with those radiological hazards which are unique to accelerators while keeping the module ASARA (As Short As Reasonably Achievable). Of course the safety of RWs is our primary consideration and we want them to be fully cognizant of radiation safety matters at accelerators, but balance is necessary in lean budgetary times; we've tried to keep in mind that when you're training people, you're spending money. We at Fermilab intend to simply incorporate the new material into our existing RW training; we can probably do this fairly painlessly since a good deal of it was there to begin with. Other labs contemplate offering accelerator training as a stand-alone module to augment their existing RW training. A presentation of the work will be given at the Mid Year meeting of the Health Physics Society in January. The Design Report for a proposed 400 MeV experimental area at Fermilab is now completed and is under review by Accelerator Division management, after which it will be submitted to the laboratory directorate. A working group of people from the lab's Accelerator Division, Facilities Engineering Section, and Environment, Safety & Health Section put considerable effort into the design. If the project is approved, we are hopeful that it can be used in part for research in accelerator health physics. Other proposed uses for the beamline include work in accelerator physics, atomic physics, and medical physics. News from SLAC Vashek Vylet ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. RADIATION PROTECTION CHALLENGES AT ACCELERATORS The following is a summary of the latest list of top radiation protection challenges at accelerator facilities. Unfortunately, virtually all of the responses to date have come from only two facilities (SLAC and CEBAF). I hope to see some responses from the other accelerator facilities in the future. Date: 9-21-94 Subj: Radiation Protection Challenges At Accelerators Authors: Submitted By RP Professionals At Accelerator Facilities Status: Working List - Revision 1 09:00 File Name: ACC CHALL A1 Last Input Update Item Received: 9-21-94 @ 08:42:36 Responses to the DOE-OAK RC QIT Request for the top "6" radiation protection challenges at accelerator facilities: (1) Radiological Work Controls - Two Identified (2) Radiological Work Permit Program - Two Identified (3) ALARA Program Requirements (4) Radioactive Materials Records & Controls - Two Identified (5) Instrument Calibration & Maintenance - Three Identified (6) Environmental & Area Monitoring (TLDs) (7) Radiological Training - Two Identified (8) Radiological Posting Requirements (9) Radiological Documentation - Two Identified (10) Radiological Quality Assurance - Two Identified (11) Release Limits for Volume Activated Materials (12) DOE Specific Documentation: Use 10CFR835 as the rule, use all other directives/IGs/etc. as guidance. (13) Time constraints on documenting the Radiation Protection Program for DOE facilities (RPPs are due 1-1-95). Note that these are not listed in any particular order (other than time of receipt and listing. Also note that some of these items are related (for example, numbers 1/2/8 relate directly to worker exposure controls and numbers 12 and 13 are particularizations of 9 for US DOE facilities). (Mike Grissom, ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. RECENT PUBLICATIONS N. E. Ipe and A. Fasso: "Gas Bremsstrahlung Considerations in the Shielding Design of the Advanced Photon Source Synchrotron Radiation Beam Lines." Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. & Methods W. R. Nelson, A. F. Bielajew, H. Hirayama and D. W. O. Rogers, "EGS4 in `94 -- A Decade of Enhancements", presented at the World Congress on Medical Physics and Bioengineering, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (21-26 August 1994). [Available as PostScript file via anonymous ftp from: ftp.slac.stanford.edu (see /pub/egs4/SLACPUB/EGS4in94.ps)]. A. F. Bielajew, H. Hirayama, W. R. Nelson and D. W. O. Rogers, "History, Overview and Recent Improvements of EGS4", National Research Council of Canada report number NRCC-PIRS-0436 (1994). [Available as PostScript file via anonymous ftp from nrcnet0.nrc.ca (see /pub/egs4/Lecture_Notes/history_and_overview_of_EGS4.ps)]. J. C. Liu, S. Mao, W. R. Nelson, K. R. Kase and N. E. Ipe, "Estimation of the Radiation Dose to the Electronic Equipment inside the PEP-II tunnel", presented at the 6th International Symposium on Radiation Physics, July 18-24, 1994, Rabat, Morocco. Also available as SLAC-PUB-6544. News from TRIUMF Lutz Moritz ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TRIUMF has had a long-standing link with the Institute for Nuclear Research in Moscow, especially their meson facility at Troitsk. The 'Moscow Meson Factory' has been under construction for some time and due to budgetary restraints more severe than we in the West can imagine the facility has operated only sporadically and progressed very slowly towards commissioning. This means that the radiation protection staff has had more time than most of us to develop some very interesting software which (not so) incidentally also has applications elsewhere. Of particular interest to us has been the development of an 'accelerator radiological expert system'. This idea grew out of an initial project to create software for doing shielding calculations which had a 'user friendly' graphical interface that could be used by non-specialists. This graphical interface which allowed the creation and manipulation of a variety of graphical objects and the definition of relationships between them was later expanded into a general purpose 'geographical information system' (GIS). The radiation safety people at Troitsk under the leadership of Sergey Serezhnikov were able to spin off a small company which now markets this GIS package in Russia. Applications include resource management, urban planning, emergency response planning etc. Serezhnikov and his people nevertheless retain a strong interest in accelerator radiation protection and have returned to further develop the application of the GIS software to accelerator radiological problems. There is a plan to create an expert system which would contain most of the relevant and most frequently used data and a menu of models for calculating shielding, induced radioactivities, penetration through mazes, skyshine etc. and which would allow defining specific problems in an intuitive, graphical way. Results would also be presented in graphical form, i.e. contours of equal dose-rate or radioactivity etc. Input could be imported from other sources such as CAD drawings or digitized maps or it could be created and modified by a built-in graphics editor. The 'expert system' would then be equivalent to a handbook but with the advantage that all the relevant data and formulas etc. could be directly applied to a specific case. We have cooperated with Sergey and his colleagues in prototyping and testing some of these models and find that they are easy to use and indeed allow for quick calculation of relevant quantities. These prototype software packages were presented at the OECD/NEA Specialists' Meeting in Arlington Texas last spring. To my surprise, there was mixed reaction. Some attendees were enthusiastic (Where can I get a copy of this software!) while others thought that anything which presents results in a graphical way and especially in 'glorious' colour would automatically carry a certain aura of authority and the uninitiated could be tempted to apply the calculations outside their range of applicability. My feeling about this is that it is much easier to discover problems with a solution to a calculation if the solution is presented in a clear graphical way than if it is presented as reams of computer printout most of which are ignored except for the one number which represents the 'answer'. For those who are interested in a more detailed description of the software and the planned development or who may have ideas on how such development should progress I am in the process of making the paper presented at Arlington available on the World Wide Web so that those who have access to a WWW browser can read the paper and see some of the full colour graphics showing this software. You should (soon) be able to access the file by looking at the TRIUMF home page at http://www.triumf.ca/ FROM THE MEMBERSHIP ====================================================================== We welcome the following new subscribers: Takashi Nakamura David Richter Takenori Suzuki Yoshihiro Asano Dan Burnstein Wes VanPelt Fred W. Bach Sergey Serezhnikov Karen Coffel Hans Bjerke Sjirk N. Boon Chris Westerfeldt CLOSING THOUGHTS ====================================================================== "No one is injured save by himself." Desiderius Erasmus CUT HERE ====================================================================== HEALTH PHYSICS SOCIETY ACCELERATOR SECTION ANNUAL DUES PAYMENT The HPS Accelerator Section has initiated a system for dues collection through the Health Physics Society. HPS 1995 Dues Renewal Invoices are scheduled to be mailed in October. All HPS members need to join or renew their Accelerator Section membership on their 1995 Dues Renewal. IRPA Affiliate Members, please complete the following form. Membership is available to HPS members and IRPA affiliates only. 1995 Accelerator Section Dues for IRPA affiliates, $6.00 ($30.00 for 5 years) ______________________________________________________________________ Please check only one: ______ VISA _____ MASTERCARD _______ CHECK ENCLOSED (Payable to HPS) Card #: ______________________________ Expiry Date: _____________ Card Holders Name: _________________________________(Please Print) Signature: ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Full Mailing Address: _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ Telephone:_____________________FAX:________________________ E-Mail Address:____________________________________________ IRPA Affiliated Society:___________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ All payments must be made in U.S. dollars and drawn on U.S. banks. U.S. Postal Money Orders, U.S. Travelers Checks, Mastercard, and Visa will also be accepted. Return this form to: HPS Accelerator Section Health Physics Society 1313 Dolley Madison Boulevard, Duite 402 McLean, VA 22101 USA