NASA

Space Radia*on Laboratory

A. Rusek
Bldg. 911B
Brookhaven Na*onal Laboratory
Upton, NY 11973
rusek@bnl.gov, (631)344-5830
FISO Telecon 4/1/15 hRp://spirit.as.utexas.edu/~so/archivelist.htm

Origins
Mo*va*on: Ground based ion source for simula*ng solar and
cosmic ray radia*on to study its aects on biology.
Assess the risks.
Study countermeasures.

Funding: NASA ($33M)

Know how: BNL (DOE)
Project started 2000, commissioned 2003.
On *me, on budget.

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Beam Design
Designed based on the experience gained through work at LBL
and BNL (AGS) (dose-based cuto)
Beam as uniform as possible (10% was typical)
Usually round beam
Cuto achieved by means of ion chambers/computer/extrac*on controls

NSRL beam is geared towards (but not restricted to) biology

work (dose-based cuto)
Beam uniformity in the useful area is 2.5%
Square beam (during biology work)
Cuto achieved by means of ion chambers/computer/extrac*on controls

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Beam

Tandem/Linac/EBIS to Booster
Booster to NSRL beam line by slow extrac*on
Beam shaped in the 100 m beam line and
Delivered to the NSRL target room (300ms spill every 4 sec)

Linac (protons, 200

MeV)

EBIS (ions, 20 MeV)

Booster
synchrotron
(up to 1000 MeV/n)

Slow
extrac*on
into NSRL

Shape and
deliver to the
target room

Tandem (ions, 20
MeV/n)

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Schedule
3 runs, or campaigns a year: Spring, Summer and Fall
6-9 weeks each

Irradia*ons take place during 1-2 shiis daily, on week days

only (almost true)

Total of about 24 weeks per year, typically.

spring and summer have been run as one 16 week long run for the
past 3 years

Leave a cushion for machine down *me

Allow for lab *me following irradia*on

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

10000

He

1500

1000
800
700
600
500
400

1000

O Ne

300

Si Cl
Ar Ti

Fe

Range in water (mm)

200

100

100
80
70
60
50

Kr Nb
Xe

40

10

Ta
Au

30
20

10

0.1
0.1

10

100

LET in water (KeV/m)

1000

10000

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

RHIC

NSRL

Relatevis*c
Heavy
Ion
Collider

NASA
Space
Radia*on
Laboratory

LINAC

Linear
Accelerator
Proton Source

EBIS

Electron
Beam
Ion
Source

BOOSTER
Synchrotron

AGS

Alterna*ng
Gradient
Synchrotron

TANDEM
Ion Source

Medical
Department

Labs and User Support

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Support Building

Beam and dosimetry control center

Experiment staging area
Cell labs (3) separated from animal labs (2)
Physics support lab (1)

C
C
8

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

12 beam pipe
8 beam pipe

R-Line: From Booster to NSRL

NSRL Beam Shapes and Sizes

1.0 - 5.0 cm (fwhm)

5cm x 5cm -
20cm x 20cm

Beams can be both slow-extracted (300 500 ms)

Or fast-extracted (<1s), once per 2-4 s cycle
10

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Target Room
Size: 20 x 20

11

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Calibra*on
NIST-traceable calibra*on chambers
Self calibra*on against scin*lla*on counters
Use heavy ions where overlap is good
Contact made through dE/dx tables
Agreement with NIST-traceables within 2%

12

P, 200 MeV

Ti, 1000 MeV/n

C, 300 MeV/n

13

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Digital Beam Imager

Beam

14

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

15

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

16

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

DBI Screen

Binary Filter
PlasRc caps

Water-lled

300 MeV/n Fe

Empty
Beam view

17

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Fe 300

0.0 mm

36.5 mm

18

38.5 mm

35.5 mm

37.0 mm

39.5 mm

36.0 mm

37.5 mm

41.5 mm

Single Eye Exposure

Right eyes of three rats at a
*me.

collimator

19

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Single Eye Exposure

20

Right eyes of three rats at a *me.

Two plates, 9 tubes, for
streamlined opera*on.
Lots of exibility, easy alignment.

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Special Beams
Time-structured beams
smooth beam
10-60Hz beam

Smooth
Ion
Chamber

Fast-extracted beam
Beam extracted in one booster
cycle, in about 800 ns.

800 ns

FEB
20 Hz

FEB
21

20 Hz

Scin*llator

60 Hz

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Space Environment
Requirements
Lower dose rates
Longer exposures (chronic)
Mixed elds and energies
Higher upper energy

22

Response
Specialty imaging and
dosimetry
Exposure incubtors
Rapid energy changing
Rapid ion changing
Beam line upgrade to 1.5
GeV/n

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Pixel Ion Chamber with Gain

Can image the beam at very low uence
2 Fe/cm2
1,000 p/cm2
Coupled with schin*lla*on counter cuto
can deliver homeopathic doses 100tracks/
cm2

23

30,000 p/cm2

22,500 Fe/cm2

Large Beam
60x60 cm2 (50x50 cm2
useful area).
Large pixel chamber (8x8) to
monitor beam uniformity.
Exposure incubator for long
exposures.

24

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

SPE SimulaRon
Requires
Fast energy changing

spin-o
Fast energy changes

Directly from the booster

By binary lter

Large beam

Easier opera*ons
Easier scheduling

For long, low dose-rate

exposures

25

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

An SPE SimulaRon
1

Used 50 MeV to represent 0 50 MeV

60 MeV to represent 50 60 MeV
70 MeV to represent 60 70 MeV
80 MeV to represent 70 80 MeV
And so on.

0.1

FracRon of Total Dose

0.01

0.001
August 1972 SPE
0.0001

NSRL 1972 SPE

0.00001

0.000001

0.0000001
0

50

100

150

Energy (MeV)

26

200

250

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Dose (arbitrary)
27

7
6

3
3

2
2

1
1

0
0
0

5 000

1 0000

1 5 000

2 0000

2 5 000

3 0000

Depth (m)

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

GCR SimulaRon
Requires
Fast ion changes.
Availability of many ion
species.
Upper energy of at least 1.5
GeV/n.
Large beam.

spin-o
Ul*mately we should be
able to change ions from
NSRL dosimetry room(!)

For long, low dose-rate

exposures

28

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Type of Studies and InvesRgaRons

Biology >90%
Tending more and more to the lower doses now
Ion, LET, Energy studies
Cancer, CNS, Cardio-Vascular, BPO, Acute eects..

Shielding
Materials (radia*on hardness etc.)
Electronics (radia*on hardness etc.)
NASA, NRO, others

Instrument tes*ng and calibra*on

NASA, others.

Therapy research
Limited to physics and biology
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Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

When not providing service

Fragmenta*on Cross sec*ons.
4He, 3He, C, O, on elemental targets and water

Detector and readout developments.

Specialty ion-chambers, adapta*on of commercial readout for medical
imaging to mul*-channel ion chamber.

Calibra*on and tes*ng.

Example: ZDCs, water-based liquid scin*llator (BNL development)

30

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

ExisRng CapabiliRes
Beam

Dosimetry

Variety of shapes and sizes

Good dynamic range

31

Square beam from 5 to 50 cm

Round beam from 0.5 to 10 cm

1 2000 rads/min (ion chambers)

< 1 rad/min (scin*llator)

Good uniformity (>95%)

Many ions available
Wide energy range available
Slow-extracted beam
Fast-extracted beam

Self calibra*on capabili*es

Cuto within >1% of total dose
Good imaging methods
DBI
Ion chambers with gain

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Missing CapabiliRes

32

Beam

Dosimetry

Sub cm pencil beam

Scanning capability
Exposure vacuum chamber

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL

Thanks for your aaenRon!

Brookhaven

National Laboratory

NSRL