[en] The staff of the Survey Section of Radiation Protection (RP) working around the CERN accelerators were as usual very busy. The LEP2 programme is now fully on its way, with the installation of additional superconducting RF cavities carried out during both the winter and summer shutdowns. The LEP energy per beam was thus increased to 80.5 GeV in summer and to 86 GeV in autumn. ACOL and LEAR ended their operational life on 19 December producing, for the last time, antiprotons for the experiments in the South Hall; all experiments will be dismantled in 1997. This programme will be partly replaced by the future Antiproton Decelerator, which was approved by the Research Board in November. Several experiments also came to their end in the North and West Experimental Areas of the SPS. NA44 (in EHN1) and NA47 (in EHN2) ended this year. All experiments installed in beam lines HI, H3, XI and X3 in the West Area also terminated, as these beam lines will be dismantled in the course of 1997 to make room for test facilities for the LHC. Several modifications in the West and North Experimental Areas have already been undertaken at the end of the year and will be continued in 1997. Some equipment installed in the West Area will be moved to the North Area. In addition to routine work, several measurements of synchrotron radiation were made in LEP for the two new energy levels reached in 1996. A number of dedicated measurements were also undertaken in EHN1 (North Area) at the end of the year, during the lead-ion run which closed the physics period. A detailed assessment of releases of radioactivity from the ISOLDE facility was also made

[en] The radiological problems associated with proton accelerators having maximum energies higher than a few GeV are discussed. Examples are given from accelerators where the authors have had practical experience for a number of years. The main focus will be on those problems which are unique to high energy proton accelerators, and which may not be necessarily associated with the proton beam operation itself. (author)

[en] Radiation protection aspects relevant to medical accelerators are discussed. An overview is first given of general safety requirements. Next, shielding and labyrinth design are discussed in some detail for the various types of accelerators, devoting more attention to hadron machines as they are far less conventional than electron linear accelerators. Some specific aspects related to patient protection are also addressed. Finally, induced radioactivity in accelerator components and shielding walls is briefly discussed. Three classes of machines are considered: (1) medical electron linacs for 'conventional' radiation therapy. (2) low energy cyclotrons for production of radionuclides mainly for medical diagnostics and (3) medium energy cyclotrons and synchrotrons for advanced radiation therapy with protons or light ion beams (hadron therapy). (author)

[en] In 1997 the physics programme of the SPS and LEP was seriously affected by a fire in one of the surface building of the SPS; the incident caused a delay in the LEP start-up, an interruption of several weeks in the SPS fixed-target programme, and the cancellation of the lead ion run for 1997. The consequences for the experiments were, nevertheless, kept to a minimum thanks to the excellent performance of the accelerators. The neutrino experiments even accumulated a record intensity. Experiments at the ISOLDE facility benefited from 315 shifts instead of 200 as originally scheduled, and new experiments started measuring the properties of unstable elements which play a crucial role in the stars. LEP also reached record energy and luminosity in 1997. Measurements of synchrotron radiation in the LEP tunnel were repeated at the new energy value of 92 GeV, to comply with the demands of the INB procedure. Following the end of operation of ACOL and LEAR in December 1996, decommissioning of the Antiproton Accumulator and transformation of the Antiproton Collector into the Antiproton Decelerator started. Experiments in the South Hall were dismantled during the year and the hall will be used partly as a storage area for radioactive components and partly as a test area

[en] Organ doses and effective dose were calculated with the latest version of the Monte Carlo transport code FLUKA in the case of an anthropomorphic mathematical model exposed to monoenergetic narrow beams of protons, pions and electrons in the energy range 10-400 GeV. The target organs considered were right eye, thyroid, thymus, lung and breast. Simple scaling laws to the calculated values are given. The present data and formulae should prove useful for dosimetric estimations in the case of accidental exposures to high energy beams. (author)

[en] A reference facility for the calibration and intercomparison of active and passive detectors in broad neutron fields has been available at CERN since 1992. A positively charged hadron beam (a mixture of protons and pions) with momentum of 120 GeV/c hits a copper target, 50 cm thick and 7 cm in diameter. The secondary particles produced in the interaction traverse a shield, at 90 deg. with respect to the direction of the incoming beam, made of either 80 to 160 cm of concrete or 40 cm of iron. Behind the iron shield, the resulting neutron spectrum has a maximum at about 1 MeV, with an additional high-energy component. Behind the 80 cm concrete shield, the neutron spectrum has a second pronounced maximum at about 70 MeV and resembles the high-energy component of the radiation field created by cosmic rays at commercial flight altitudes. This paper describes the facility, reports on the latest neutron spectral measurements, gives an overview of the most important experiments performed by the various collaborating institutions over recent years and briefly addresses the possible application of the facility to measurements related to the space programme. (author)

[en] As planned, the PS complex started up at the end of March 1998. The machines worked smoothly and the availability of the beams reached from 90% up to 96%. New record intensities were achieved for the 14 GeV/c protons for the SPS fixed-target operation and for the Pb⁵³⁺ ions. The year 1998 saw the PS complex busy with the transformation of the Antiproton Accumulator (ACOL) into the Antiproton Decelerator (AD). This project is almost finished and the first test beams of protons have already been successfully decelerated in the machine. It is envisaged that the physicists will receive a 100 MeV antiproton beam from October 1999 onwards. Major modifications of the East Hall were required due to the installation of the DIRAC experiment, some test facilities for secondary particles used by LHC experimental groups, and an irradiation area (IRRAD1) for radiation hardness tests of LHC components. The first beams to experimental areas of the East Hall were already sent from July 1998 onwards. The ISOLDE mass separator delivered 275 shifts of radioactive beams of high quality to its user community. The SPS fixed-target programme lasted from 1 April to 30 November. The successful start-up of the accelerators for both the proton and lead-ion periods was followed by stable machine running and by record intensities. The year 1998 marked the end of the operation of the neutrino beam. The dismantling of CHORUS began before the end of the year, to be followed by that of the NOMAD experiment early in 1999

[en] This Part describes activities not directly concerned with daily routine, but which are nevertheless important as they ensure constant quality and steady progress in radiation protection at CERN. New projects, another non-routine activity, require in most cases profound studies to prove their feasibility with respect to radiation protection requirements. All these activities are documented in Divisional Reports, Internal Reports and Technical Memoranda, and are listed in this report

[en] A good knowledge of the radiation field present outside the shielding of high-energy particle accelerators is very important to be able to select the type of detectors (active and/or passive) to be employed for area monitoring and the type of personal dosemeter required for estimating the doses received by individuals. Around high-energy electron and proton accelerators the radiation field is usually dominated by neutrons and photons, with minor contributions from other charged particles. Under certain circumstances, muon radiation in the forward beam direction may also be present. Neutron dosimetry and spectrometry are of primary importance to characterise the radiation field and thus to correctly evaluate personnel exposure. Starting from the beam parameters important for radiation monitoring, the paper first briefly reviews the stray radiation fields encountered around high-energy accelerators and then addresses the relevant techniques employed for their monitoring. Recent developments to increase the response of neutron measuring devices beyond 10-20 MeV are illustrated. Instruments should be correctly calibrated either in reference monoenergetic radiation fields or in a field similar to the field in which they are used (workplace calibration). The importance of the instrument calibration is discussed and available neutron calibration facilities are briefly reviewed. (authors)

[en] Ambient dose equivalent was determined in high energy reference radiation fields at CERN (CERF facility) using a recombination chamber and recombination methods developed in IAE. The chamber was also used for measuring the low LET background radiation which locally accompanies the fields at CERF. The measurements included determination of the absorbed dose and recombination index of radiation quality at different beam intensities. It was shown that the background might considerably influence the measurements of the absorbed dose, however, its influence on the ambient dose equivalent remains important only at low beam intensities. (author)