Matteo Magistris

Radioactive waste management and decommissioning of accelerator facilities

During the operation of high-energy accelerators, the interaction of radiation with matter can lead to the activation of the machine components and of the surrounding infrastructures. As a result of maintenance operation and during decommissioning of the installation, considerable amounts of radioactive waste are evacuated and shall be managed according to the radiation-protection legislation. This paper gives an overview of the current practices in radioactive waste management and decommissioning of accelerators.

The triple GEM detector as stray neutron monitor

A triple GEM detector for low energy neutrons and high rejection of gamma background was tested at the CERF facility at CERN as stray neutron monitor. The detector was exposed to a wide neutron spectrum generated by a 120 GeV/c positively charged hadron beam hitting a copper target. The beam particle rate on target ranged over three orders of magnitude. The neutron count rate measured with the GEM could be linearly correlated with the beam intensity and also compared well with Monte Carlo simulations. The detector performance suggests that it can be used as an independent low energy neutron monitor at high-energy particle accelerator facilities.

Radiation shielding of a beta-beam rapid cycling synchrotron

Abstract In a future beta-beam facility, radioactive ions (namely, 6He and 18Ne) are produced, accelerated, and then stored in a large decay ring, where they eventually produce neutrino beams through beta decay. Radiation protection is of great concern for this facility because decay products are present at all energies along the accelerator chain. Experimental data on radioactivity produced by ion accelerators are still poor, and few Monte Carlo codes can transport ions. All present calculations are performed with the Monte Carlo code FLUKA. The radiation environment generated by ion beam losses is compared with the available experimental data. The attenuation length of radiation in concrete is calculated for 6He and 18Ne at four different energies, from 100 to 1650 MeV/u. A preliminary shielding design for the Rapid Cycling Synchrotron, purpose-designed for a beta-beam accelerator chain at CERN, is proposed.

Uncertainty quantification applied to the radiological characterization of radioactive waste

This paper describes the process adopted at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to quantify uncertainties affecting the characterization of very-low-level radioactive waste. Radioactive waste is a by-product of the operation of high-energy particle accelerators. Radioactive waste must be characterized to ensure its safe disposal in final repositories. Characterizing radioactive waste means establishing the list of radionuclides together with their activities. The estimated activity levels are compared to the limits given by the national authority of the waste disposal. The quantification of the uncertainty affecting the concentration of the radionuclides is therefore essential to estimate the acceptability of the waste in the final repository but also to control the sorting, volume reduction and packaging phases of the characterization process. The characterization method consists of estimating the activity of produced radionuclides either by experimental methods or statistical approaches. The uncertainties are estimated using classical statistical methods and uncertainty propagation. A mixed multivariate random vector is built to generate random input parameters for the activity calculations. The random vector is a robust tool to account for the unknown radiological history of legacy waste. This analytical technique is also particularly useful to generate random chemical compositions of materials when the trace element concentrations are not available or cannot be measured. The methodology was validated using a waste population of legacy copper activated at CERN. The methodology introduced here represents a first approach for the uncertainty quantification (UQ) of the characterization process of waste produced at particle accelerators.

Radiological characterization of printed circuit boards for future elimination

Electronic components like printed circuit boards (PCBs) are commonly used in CERNs accelerator complex. During their lifetime some of these PCBs are exposed to a radiation field of protons, neutrons and pions and are activated. In view of their disposal towards the appropriate final repository, a radiological characterization must be performed. The present work proposes a general characterization procedure based on the definition of a reference chemical composition, on the calculation of the corresponding radionuclide inventory and on the measurement of a tracer radionuclide. This method has been validated with real-life cases of electronic boards which were exposed to the typical radiation fields in CERNs accelerators. The activation studies demonstrate that silver is the key element with respect to the radiological characterization of electronic waste due to the production of Ag-110m and Ag-108m. A sensitivity analysis shows that the waiting time is the main parameter affecting the radionuclide inventory. Results also indicate that, as is the case of other families of radioactive waste, an accurate assessment of the radiological inventory of PCBs would require the precise knowledge of their chemical composition, as well as the radiation field to which they were exposed.

The triple GEM detector as beam monitor for relativistic hadron beams

A triple GEM detector was tested at the CERF facility at CERN as an on-line beam imaging monitor and as a counting reference device. It was exposed to a 120 GeV/c positively charged hadron beam (approximately 2/3 pions and 1/3 protons), which hits a copper target generating a wide spectrum of different kinds of particles used for various experiments. The flux of beam particles ranged over three orders of magnitude, from 8·104 s-1 to 8·107 s-1. The profile of the beam acquired with the GEM was compared to the one measured with a MWPC and no saturation was observed. In addition, the count rate measured with the GEM was compared to the one measured with an Ionization Chamber, which is routinely used for monitoring the beam intensity. Another way of monitoring the intensity of the beam was also explored, which is based on the total current driven from the GEM foils. The digital readout allows making a 2D online image of the beam for the alignment with the copper target in the CERF facility. A low residual activation of the detector was observed shortly after irradiation.