Radiation Protection for Particle Accelerator Facilities: Recommendations of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) announces the publication of NCRP Report No. 144, Radiation Protection for Particle Accelerator Facilities. This Report is a substantial revision and expansion of NCRP Report No. 51, published in 1977 and entitled, Radiation Protection Design Guidelines for 0.1-100 MeV Particle Accelerator Facilities. NCRP Report No. 51 was one of the first comprehensive treatments of accelerator radiological-protection concerns. NCRP Report No. 144 revises and expands on the earlier report and includes new information on source intensities, shielding, dosimetry, and the environmental aspects of particle accelerator operation. It is primarily concerned with radiological safety aspects that are special to the operation of particle accelerators having energies above about 5 MeV up to the highest energies available, while not neglecting low-energy neutron generators. The purpose of this Report is to provide design guidelines for radiation protection, and to identify those aspects of radiological safety that are of major, or even unique, importance to the operation of particle accelerator installations and to suggest methods by which safe operation may be achieved. The Report is written from an engineering physics viewpoint and is intended to be useful to those engaged in the design and operation of accelerators, particularly in smaller institutions and organizations that do not have a large radiological-protection staff. Managers of institutional and industrial accelerator installations, health physicists, hospitals, radiological physicists, research scientists, government regulators, project engineers, and other similar specialists will also find the information contained in this Report useful.