Dosimetry Measurements of X-Ray and Neutron Radiation Levels Near the Shuttle and End Beam Dump at the Advanced Test Accelerator: Beam Research Program

摘要

Electron beams as a source of directed energy are under study at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). An intense 10-kA, 50-MeV, 50-ns full-width half-maximum, pulsed electron beam is generated by the prototype Advanced Test Accelerator (ATA) at the Laboratory's Site 300. Whenever the electron beam is stopped in materials, intense radiation is generated. Estimates based on available data in the literature show that for materials such as lead, photon radiation (x ray, gamma, bremsstrahlung) levels can be as large as 10 sup 4 roentgens per pulse at 1 m in the zero-degree direction (i.e., the electron-beam direction). Neutrons, which are emitted isotropically, are produced at a level of 10 sup 13 n/m sup 2 per pulse. Depending upon the number of pulses and the shielding geometry, the accumulated dose is potentially lethal to personnel and potentially damaging to instrumentation that may be used for diagnostics. To provide shielding for minimizing the risk of exposure to personnel and radiation damage to instrumentation, it is important to determine the x-ray and neutron radiation environment near beamline components such as the beam shuttle dump and beam stop. Photon and neutron dosimetry measurements were performed around the beam shuttle dump on January 9, 1985, and near the carbon beam stop at the end of the beamline before the entrance to the diagnostic tunnel on April 12 and December 23, 1985. These measurements together with simple rule-of-thumb estimates and Monte Carlo electron-photon shower calculations of the absorbed dose are presented in this report. 17 refs., 14 figs., 13 tabs. (ERA citation 13:009369)