Decommissioning and dismantling of the national medical cyclotron - a radiation protection perspective

The National Medical Cyclotron at Camperdown Sydney ceased operations in October 2009 after producing medical isotopes for application in nuclear medicine for approximately 19 years. ANSTO commenced the decommissioning and dismantling of the cyclotron in January 2011 after approval was given by ARPANSA following a detailed submission process. The radiation protection aspects of the decommissioning and dismantling of the 30 Mev National Medical Cyclotron by ANSTO and external contractors are described in this paper. This includes the preparation of a radiation protection plan, activation analysis of the cyclotron and its components and estimating individual and collective doses from available radiological data. The paper will also look at the planning and risk assessment of various work tasks performed, health physics monitoring and controls (both physical and administrative) and a review of individual and collective doses received during the dismantling process. Finally we will go through the challenges, issues and a review of the outcomes.