RADIATION DOSIMETRY IN THE BNCT PATIENT TREATMENT ROOM AT THE BMRR.
The Medical Research Reactor at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BMRR) was a heterogeneous, tank type, light water cooled and moderated, graphite reflected reactor, which was operated on demand at a power level up to 3 mega-watts (MW) for medical and biological research [1]. The reactor first went critical on March 15, 1959, with 17 fresh fuel elements (2.52 kg uranium-235 in a total of 2.7 kg uranium) in the center core. The BMRR had two treatment rooms on opposite sides of the core. It had a predominately thermal neutron beam in the Thermal Neutron Irradiation Facility (TNE) on the west side of the core. By early 1990, a redesigned beam line had a predominately epithermal neutron beam in the Epithermal Neutron Irradiation Facility (ENIF) on the east side of the core [2]. The ENP was approximately 11 feet by 21 feet in size with its focal point consisting of a bismuth plate mounted in the wall adjacent to the reactor shield about 36 inches above the floor. The beam originated at a shutter constructed of 0.75 inch steel filled with concrete and weighing {approx}21 tons. Access to the ENIF was through a pair of hand operated steel shielding doors, each 42 inches wide, 84 inches high and 5 inches thick. The inner door had a 4-inch thick layer of paraffin on the side facing the reactor. The doors 5000 pounds weighed each. Additional shielding material had been added to the entire beam port at reactor wall within the ENIF. The shielding material consisted of 2-inch thick polyethylene sheets, which were impregnated with 95%-enriched {sup 6}Li in lithium carbonate (Li{sub 2}CO{sub 3}). The shielding sheets around the port face were designed to allow the insertion of a variety of different beam collimators.
- Research Organization:
- BROOKHAVEN NATTIONAL LABORATORY
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/SC
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-98CH10886
- OSTI ID:
- 15020472
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-73998-2005-CP; R&D Project: 05055; KB0301041; TRN: US0504591
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 12TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON REACTOR DOSIMETRY; GATLINBURG, TN; 20050508 through 20050513
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Analysis of accelerator based neutron spectra for BNCT using proton recoil spectroscopy
ANALYSIS OF ACCELERATOR BASED NEUTRON SPECTRA FOR BNCT USING PROTON RECOIL SPECTROSCOPY