ABSTRACT
The upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider spare beam dumps (Target Dump External, TDE) and the autopsy of the old operational TDE required to perform several activities in a high-radiation environment posing significant radiation protection challenges due to the residual activation of the equipment. To ensure high safety standards and to respect the ALARA principle, these challenges were addressed using the advanced Monte Carlo techniques to predict the residual ambient dose equivalent rate and the radionuclide inventory at different steps of the interventions. The CERN HSE-RP group makes extensive use of the FLUKA and ActiWiz codes to produce accurate estimates. This work aims to provide an overview of the radiation protection studies to optimise the interventions (ALARA) and to reduce the radiological risk for personnel and environment.
Subject(s)
Radiation Protection , Radiology , Autopsy , Monte Carlo MethodABSTRACT
In the context of the so-called Long Shutdown 3 (2026-2028), the Large Hadron Collider will be upgraded to the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, allowing for approximately five more instantaneous collisions. The upgrade, maintenance and decommissioning of equipment will be mainly performed in the experimental insertions of Points 1 and 5, requiring to perform multiple interventions in high-residual radiation environment. This poses complex radiological challenges that the CERN Radiation Protection group is called to address. Radiation protection studies are performed to plan and optimise (ALARA) these future interventions using the advanced Monte Carlo techniques and tools such as FLUKA, ActiWiz, SESAME and the FCC method. This paper aims to provide an overview of the studies conducted to estimate the residual radiation field in the experimental insertions, the activation levels in terms of multiple of the Swiss clearance limits/specific activity and to provide preliminary considerations on the upgrade/decommissioning of key equipment.
