Evaluation of the radioactivity of the pre-dominant gamma emitters in components used at high-energy proton accelerator facilities

Abstract

At a high-energy, high-intensity proton accelerator facility, the accelerator components inside the beam-line tunnel and the concrete wall of the tunnel are activated due to beam loss during operation. During maintenance work inside the tunnel, radiation emitted from these activated materials can cause exposure to radiation workers. In this study, the relation between the surface dose rate of activated materials and the induced radioactivity was considered, and an evaluation of the major radioactivity using the surface dose rate was made. It has been revealed that (22)Na in Al samples and (54)Mn in Fe samples, (60)Co and (54)Mn in Fe samples, and (60)Co in Fe and Cu samples are principal residual radionuclides after a few hundred days of cooling about a few years of cooling and approximately 10 y of cooling, respectively.