Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on February 23, 2006
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2006 118(4):431-439; doi:10.1093/rpd/nci379
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Radiation safety and quality control in the cyclotron laboratory
Positron Imaging Research Laboratory, Center of Excellence in Neurosciences, University of North Dakota, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, 501 North Columbia Road, Grand Forks, ND 58203, USA
* Corresponding author: skumar{at}medicine.nodak.edu
Received July 8, 2005, amended November 24, 2005, accepted December 5, 2005
Radiation safety was determined to maintain quality control in the cyclotron laboratory. Based on the results of 438 runs in the Faraday cup (20 µA for 10 min), 20 runs on 18Owater target (40 µA for 2 h) and 10 runs on 18Ogas targets (30 µA for 45 min), we have established that occupationally exposed workers remain 10 ± 5 times below federal regulatory limits (FRLs) in the cyclotron vault, 30 ± 8 times below FRL in the radiochemistry laboratory and 200 ± 10 times below the FRL outside the cyclotron laboratory during beam operation. (The FRL for unrestricted area are <20 µSv in 1 h.) The non-occupationally exposed workers serving in offices in the vicinity of the cyclotron vault within 100 m distance remained 200 times below the FRL irrespective of beam being on or off, suggesting that routine beam operation of 40 µA for 2 h once a day during office hours is safe provided quality control and system performance measures as discussed in this report are strictly maintained.