Problem of work on a high energy synchrotron submitted to large radiation dose

Firstly, organic components have to be surveyed and eventually exchanged; secondly, work done by the staff in radioactive areas should be strictly controlled and minimized. To reach these goals radiation and radioactivity should not only be measured but also predicted years in advance. Radiation doses are computed, measured and predicted according to the proton loss pattern around the accelerator. A correlation scheme of doses versus accelerator operation is then deduced to predict the dose on any sensitive part of the accelerator. In the same way a radioactive pattern is computed, measured and accurately predicted in terms of dose rate. Work on the accelerator is studied in detail in order to forecast its duration and the corresponding dose absorbed by the staff. With these methods, it is easy now not only to predict the fate of the equipment and the doses to be received by the staff, but also to organize the work accordingly and possibly to program the accelerator operation (proton intensity and proton uses like target operation, dumping, extracting etc.) following these predictions. (19 refs).