Radiation Physics, Regulation and Management

Sponsor:

Northern Illinois University

Course Name:

Radiation Physics, Regulation and Management

Instructors:

Matthew Quinn and Diane Reitzner, Fermilab

Purpose and Audience
The purpose of this course is to instruct students in the radiation physics of accelerators, the regulatory framework in which the associated hazards must be controlled, and the elements of management needed to provide a climate for successful programmatic implementation. The intended audience for this course includes accelerator physicists, engineers, and radiation protection professionals who desire to improve their knowledge of accelerator radiation physics. The American Academy of Health Physics will award 40 Continuing Education Credits for Certified Health Physicists who participate in this course. See this link for more details.

Prerequisites
Sophomore undergraduate-level courses in modern physics and mathematical methods, including first-year undergraduate calculus and ordinary differential equations are required.

It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they meet the course prerequisites or have equivalent experience.

Objectives
The intent of this course is to provide students with a working familiarity and an improved degree of intuition for the radiation physics phenomena present in particle accelerators facilities of all types and energies, and the methods available to mitigate them within a regulatory and programmatic context.

Instructional Method
The course consists of a series of lectures and problem discussions primarily based upon the contents of a textbook published by the instructors. Associated with the major topics presented, daily homework problems will be assigned to be completed outside of scheduled class sessions. Evening help sessions will be held with the instructors available for assistance. The solutions to the problems will be reviewed the day after they are due in class recitations.

Course Content
The composition of accelerator radiation fields for electron, proton, and ion accelerators at all energies will be reviewed. Building upon this, the methods of designing radiation shielding for accelerator systems will be presented in a broad overview, not inclusive of the specific details of a particular Monte Carlo code system. Special attention will be devoted to low-energy neutron phenomena that are found at nearly all accelerators. The production of induced radioactivity in both accelerator components and environmental media will be covered. A discussion of radiation detection instrumentation found to be particularly useful in understanding accelerator radiation fields will be included. An overview of regulatory systems for radiation protection, with a focus of systems used in the United States, will be presented.  Finally, a synopsis of the elements of a successful accelerator radiation protection program will be given.

Reading Requirements
(To be provided by the USPAS) Radiation Physics for Personnel and Environmental Protection by J. Donald Cossairt and Matthew Quinn (CRC Press Publishers, 2019).

Credit Requirements
Students will be evaluated on the basis of homework assignments (60%) and an in-class written examination (40%).

USPAS Computer Requirements
There will be no Computer Lab and all participants are required to bring their own portable computer to access online course notes and computer resources. This can be a laptop or a tablet with a sufficiently large screen and keyboard. Windows, Mac, and Linux-based systems that are wifi capable and have a standard web browser and mouse are all acceptable. You should have privileges for software installs. If you are unable to bring a computer, please contact uspas@fnal.gov ASAP to request a laptop loan. Very limited IT support and spare loaner laptops will be available during the session.

Northern Illinois University course number: PHYS 790D Special Topics in Physics - Beam Physics
Indiana University course number: Physics 671, Advanced Topics in Accelerator Physics
Michigan State University course number: PHY 963 "U.S. Particle Accelerator School"
MIT course number: 8.790, Accelerator Physics