Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

Radiation monitoring at high-energy accelerators

Kolloquium der Abteilung 6

The European Commission funded within its 6^th Framework Programme a three-year project (2005-2007) called CONRAD, COordinated Network for RAdiation Dosimetry. The organisational framework for this project was provided by the European Radiation Dosimetry Group EURADOS. One task within the CONRAD project (WP6-A) was to review research needs and activities in Europe to develop new and improved methods and techniques for the characterisation of complex radiation fields at workplaces around high-energy accelerators. This talk will review the results achieved in this domain.

Two major tasks were undertaken. The first was to provide an extensive review of the relevant techniques and instrumentation employed for monitoring neutron and photon fields around high-energy accelerators. The result was the publication of a CERN Yellow Report discussing the monitoring techniques employed at high-energy accelerator facilities in Europe.

The second task was the organisation and realisation of a measurement campaign at GSI, Darmstadt in order to intercompare the response of various devices in a high-energy stray field outside the accelerator shielding. This extensive intercomparison has involved both spectrometry measurements with various Bonner sphere spectrometers and monitoring with active detectors and passive dosemeters. The results of this intercomparison are presented in this talk: the range of applicability of instrumentation, the importance of calibration, the important contribution that Monte Carlo simulations can provide in this field, and the areas where development work is still needed.

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