Production of Radioactivity by Particle Accelerators

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At all accelerators with energies greater than some tens of MeV, induced radioactivity results whenever beams interact with accelerator or beam transport components. Typically these interactions occur at injection and extraction points and beam splitting stations. Losses at these points are not desirable, and great efforts are often required to reduce them. Beam losses also occur at collimators, scrapers, target areas and beam dumps; these losses are deliberate and cannot be reduced. Consequently, these are usually the most radioactive areas of the accelerator, and work near them is the largest source of radiation exposure at all laboratories. It is therefore necessary to be able to anticipate the magnitude of the problems involved in such work, in order to minimize those problems in the design of a new facility. While these loss points are common to all accelerators, the magnitude of the resulting problems depends on many factors unique to each accelerator: the type of particle accelerated, the particle energy, and the geometry and composition of the items being struck. These considerations are discussed, and a general introduction is given for those not actively involved in this area.