Predicting Induced Radioactivity at High Energy Accelerators

Abstract

Radioactive nuclides are produced at high-energy electron accelerators by different kinds of particle interactions with accelerator components and shielding structures. Radioactivity can also be induced in air, cooling fluids, soil and groundwater. The physical reactions involved include spallations due to the hadronic component of electromagnetic showers, photonuclear reactions by intermediate energy photons and low-energy neutron capture. Although the amount of induced radioactivity is less important than that of proton accelerators by about two orders of magnitude, reliable methods to predict induced radioactivity distributions are essential in order to assess the environmental impact of a facility and to plan its decommissioning. Conventional techniques used so far are reviewed, and a new integrated approach is presented, based on an extension of methods used at proton accelerators and on the unique capability of the FLUKA Monte Carlo code to handle the whole joint electromagnetic and hadronic cascade, scoring residual nuclei produced by all relevant particles. The radiation aspects related to the operation of superconducting RF cavities are also addressed.