Radiation Simulations for the Proposed ISOL Stations for RIA

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Physics, within the Office of Science (SC), has given high priority to consider and analyze design concepts for the target areas for the production of rare isotopes via the ISOL technique at the Rare-Isotope Accelerator (RIA) Facility. Key criteria are the maximum primary beam power of 400 kW, minimizing target change-out time, good radiological protection, flexibility with respect to implementing new target concepts, and the analysis and minimization of hazards associated with the operation of the facility. We will present examples of on-going work on simulations of radiation heating of targets, surrounding components and shielding, component activation, and levels of radiation dose, using the simulation codes MARS, MCNPX, and PHITS. These results are important to make decisions that may have a major impact on the layout, operational efficiency and cost of the facility, hazard analysis, shielding design, civil construction, component design, and material selection overall layout, and remote handling concepts.