• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2009

Proton therapy facility, which is recently installed at National Cancer Center in Korea, generally produces a large amount of radiation near cyclotron due to the secondary particles and radioisotopes caused by collision between proton and nearby materials during the acceleration. Although the level of radiation by radioisotope decreases in length of time, radiation exposure problem still exists since workers are easily exposed by a low level of radiation for a long time due to their job assignment for maintenance or repair of the proton facility. In this paper, the working environment near cyclotron, where the highest radiation exposure is expected, was studied by measuring the degree of radiation and its duration for an appropriate level of protective action guide. To do this, we measured the radiation change in the graphite based energy degrader, the efficiency of transmitted beam and relative activation degree of the transmission beam line. The results showed that while the level of radiation exposure around cyclotron and beam line during the operation is much higher than the other radiation therapy facilities, the radiation exposure rate per year is under the limit recommended by the law showing 1~3 mSv/year.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.793-800
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• 2024

This study evaluated radiation doses using the RESRAD-BUILD 4.0 program to assess space reuse after decommissioning a cyclotron facility. The PETtrace cyclotron, widely used in the medical field, was selected for the analysis. two types of concrete were examined:: NBS03 concrete and magnetite and steel concrete. For NBS03 concrete, six radionuclides, including ⁵⁵Fe, ⁶⁰Co, ¹⁵²Eu, ¹³⁴Cs, ¹⁵⁴Eu, and ¹⁵²Gd, were analyzed, whereas seven radionuclides were considered for magnetite and steel concrete, adding ⁵⁴Mn to the aforementioned six radionuclides. The evaluation identified external exposure as the primary pathway. For NBS03 concrete, ⁶⁰Co and ¹⁵²Eu were the main contributors to radiation exposure, while for magnetite and steel concrete, ⁶⁰Co and ⁵⁴Mn were dominant. Operational duration had minimal impact on exposure dose. The radiation dose received by workers was below the 1 mSv dose limit for the general public, indicating that the space is safe for various uses after cyclotron dismantling. As cyclotron decommissioning is expected to increase, the findings of this study provide essential data to guide the repurposing of such facilities.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.210-214
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• 2004

Since production of radioactive isotope for using PET, a lot of neutrons were produced. The produced neutrons were mainly shielded by concrete facility. Secondary photons are generated and emitted from the concrete shielding wall of the PET cyclotron since the proton-generated neutrons are thermalized and absorbed in the concrete wall and emit secondary radiations, i.e., photons. This study calculated neutron dose and photon dose at outside of the accelerator facility using MCNPX code. As results of the calculation, total dose were calculated less than limited dose by law.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.378-390
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• 2023

The SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) facility, currently under development at Legnaro National Laboratories of INFN, aims at the production of intense RIB (Radioactive Ion Beams) employing the Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) technique for interdisciplinary research. The radioactive isotopes of interest are produced by the interaction of a multi-foil uranium carbide target with a 40 MeV 200 μA proton beam generated by a cyclotron proton driver. The Target Ion Source (TIS) is the core of the SPES project, here the radioactive nuclei, mainly neutron-rich isotopes, are stopped, extracted, ionized, separated, accelerated and delivered to specific experimental areas. Due to efficiency reasons, the TIS unit needs to be replaced periodically during operation. In this highly radioactive environment, the employment of autonomous systems allows the manipulation, transport, and storage of the TIS unit without the need for human intervention. A dedicated remote handling infrastructure is therefore under development to fulfill the functional and safety requirement of the project. This contribution describes the layout of the SPES target area, where all the remote handling systems operate to grant the smooth operation of the facility avoiding personnel exposure to a high dose rate or contamination issues.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.125-130
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• 2015

RI & RG are used in various field such as medical field, industrial field, agricultural and food&life field. The number of small nuclear facilities is on the increase. We need to take an interest in decommissioning of small nuclear facility and predict the occurring problem from facility decommissioning. Because of the relatively low radiation risk, the preparation of the small nuclear facility dismantling is often neglected. As the accident in Goiania, Brazil showed, the impact of the decommissioning of small nuclear facilities is not less than the large nuclear facilities although it may seem dangerless. Therefore, we analyzed the each institutional characteristics of the decommissioning of small nuclear facilities through foreign case study on this research. Also, we proposed several considerations on decommissioning such as reuse of facility and source, lack of space, stakeholder involvement and failures of protection. Through these study, we tried to make guideline of the small nuclear facilities decommissioning.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.156-161
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• 2016

When air discharged from a radioisotope production facility is contaminated with radiation, the public may be exposed to radiation. The objective of this study is to manage such radiation exposure. We measured the airborne radioactivity concentration at a 30 MeV cyclotron radioisotope production facility to assess whether the exhaust gas was contaminated. Additionally, we investigted the radioactive contamination of the air filter for efficient air purification and radiation safety control. To measure the airborne radiation concentration, specimens were collected weekly for 4 h after the beginning of the radioisotope production. Regarding the air purifier, five specimens were collected at different positions of each filter-pre-filter, high-efficiency particulate air filter, and charcoal filter-installed in the cyclotron production room. The concentrations of F-18, I-123, I-131, and Tl-201 generated in the radioiodine production room were $13.5Bq/m^3$, $27.0Bq/m^3$, $0.10Bq/m^3$, and $11.5Bq/m^3$, respectively; the concentrations of F-18, I-123, and I-131 produced in the radioisotope production room were $0.05Bq/m^3$, $16.1Bq/m^3$, and $0.45Bq/m^3$, correspondingly; and those of F-18, I-123, I-131, and Tl-201 generated in the accelerator room were $2.07Bq/m^3$, $53.0Bq/m^3$, $0.37Bq/m^3$, and $0.15Bq/m^3$, respectively. The maximum radiation concentration of I-123 generated in the radioiodine production room was 1,820 Bq/g, which can be disposed after 2 days. The maximum radiation concentration of Tl-202 generated in the radioisotope production room was 205 Bq/g, and this isotope must be stored for 53 days. The I-123 generated in the radioiodine production room had a maximum concentration of 1,530 Bq/g and must be stored for 2 days. The maximum radiation concentration of Na-22 generated in the radioisotope production room was 0.18 Bq/g and this isotope must be disposed after 827 days. To manage the exhaust, the efficiency of air purification must be enhanced by selecting an air purifier with a long life and determining the appropriate replacement time by examining the differential pressure through systematic measurements of the airborne radiation contamination level.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1378-1389
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• 2021

TRIUMF, Canada's particle accelerator centre, is constructing a new high-power ISOL (Isotope Separation On-Line) facility called ARIEL (Advanced Rare IsotopE Laboratory). Thick porous targets will be bombarded with up to 48 kW of 480 MeV protons from TRIUMF's cyclotron, or up to 100 kW of 30 MeV electrons from a new e-linac, to produce short-lived radioisotopes for a variety of applications, including nuclear astrophysics, fundamental nuclear structure and nuclear medicine. For efficient release of radioisotopes, the targets are heated to temperatures approaching 2000 ℃, and are exposed to GSv/h level radiation fields resulting from intended fissions and spallations. Due to these conditions, the operational life for each target is only about five weeks, calling for frequent remote target exchanges to limit downtime. A few days after irradiation, the targets have a residual radiation field producing a dose rate on the order of 10 Sv/h at 1 m, requiring several years of decay prior to shipment to a national disposal facility. TRIUMF is installing new remote handling infrastructure dedicated to ARIEL, including hot cells and a remote handling crane. The system design applies learnings from multiple existing facilities, including CERN-ISOLDE, GANIL-SPIRAL II as well as TRIUMF's ISAC (Isotope Separator and ACcelerator).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.70.1-70.1
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• 2015

The facility for RAON superconducting heavy-ion accelerator at a beam power of up to 400 kW will be produced rare isotopes with two electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources. Highly charged ions generated by the ECR ion source will be injected to a superconducting LINAC to accelerate them up to 200 MeV/u. During the acceleration of the heavy ions, a good vacuum system is required to avoid beam loss due to interaction with residual gases. Therefore ultra-high vacuum (UHV) is required to (i) limit beam losses, (ii) keep the radiation induced within safe levels, and (iii) prevent contamination of superconducting cavities by residual gas. In this work, a RAON vacuum design for all the accelerator system will be presented along with Monte Carlo simulation of vacuum levels in order to validate the vacuum hardware configuration, which is needed to meet the baseline requirements.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.10
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• pp.4365-4374
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• 2024

Utilizing first-order beam dynamics models is adequate for studying the beam properties during the conceptual design of a cyclotron-based proton therapy beamline. After finishing lattice design, particle-matter interaction simulations for passive elements (e.g., degrader, collimators, energy slit) are required. The cascade simulation is used for lattice updates in each iteration, which is complicated. In addition, when the models involve particle tracking and particle-matter interaction, their optimization process is time-consuming. Therefore, this study proposes a start-to-end modeling method using Monte Carlo Beam Delivery Simulation (BDSIM) software that considers more realistic factors, such as particle-matter interaction and the realistic vacuum chamber, to precisely evaluate working parameters, along with an efficient optimization method that utilizes multi-objective Bayesian optimization (MOBO) to improve transmission efficiency. Taking the Huazhong University of Science and Technology proton therapy facility (HUST-PTF) as an example, beam loss along the beamline is located, quantified, and subsequently reduced by tuning the quadrupole strengths based on MOBO. The results show that: (i) By considering the particle-matter interaction and the realistic vacuum chamber, the precision in the prediction of the beam properties is improved; (ii) After optimization, the transmission efficiency of the entire beamline is relatively increased by an average of 6.52 % under different energy settings, especially 11.39 % at 70 MeV.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.85-91
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• 1988

For the physical characterization of neutron beam, dosimetric measurements had been performed to obtain physical data of KCCH cyclotron-produced neutrons for clinical use. The results are presented and compared with the data of other institutions from the literatures. The central axis percent depth dose, build-up curves and open and wedge isodose curve values are intermediate between that of a 4 and 6 MV X-rays. The build-up level of maximum dose was at 1.35cm and entrance dose was approximately $40\%$. Flatness of the beam was $9\%$ at Dmax and less $than{\pm}3\%$ at the depth of $80\%$ isodose line. Penumbra begond the $20\%$ line is wider than corresponding photon beam. The output factors ranged 0.894 for $6\times6cm$ field to 1.187 for $30\times30cm$ field. Gamma contamination of neutron beam was $4.9\%$ at 2 cm depth in $10\times10cm$ field.