Capabilities

The RSEL’s capabilities allow offerings of a variety of services. Together with the support of the NRE/MP Program faculty, the facility can be utilized to enhance and supplement the education of the on-campus and distance learning NRE and MP students, and to educate and train others. For example, the VCLA Laboratory can be used by therapists (in metro, state, regionally, nationally), dosimetrists, other professionals (including distance learning), and provide facilities for state/regional “Quality Assurance Labs” and other opportunities requiring clinical-quality linear accelerator beam-time. The high intensity neutron generator and radioisotopes in the RSEL have direct applicability to research, development, and testing of detectors new detector development and assessments in gamma radiation fields, etc, for faculty and customers in the metro area, state, southeast region and the nation. Moreover, installation of high dose rate irradiators are planned for use in biotechnology applications, instrument sterilization, and high dose rate dosimetry tests and calibrations.

The current RSEL capabilities are briefly summarized below.

Varian Clinical Linear Accelerator
The RSEL's accelerator vault was built as part of an $8.5 million investment by Varian Medical Systems, including the installation of a Varian Clinac iX clinical linear accelerator. This state of the art medical linear accelerator has principal modes of 6 MeV and 18 MeV for photons, and five electron modes up to 22 MeV. The accelerator vault is rated for up to 24 MeV maximum photon beam energy, and was designed in accordance with NCRP 151.
Varian Treatment Planning Laboratory
Attached (via network) to the clinical linear accelerator is the Medical Physics Treatment Planning Laboratory. This space houses ten (10) independent workstations, each loaded with the latest version of Varian’s Eclipse treatment planning software. This system is a cornerstone of modern radiation oncology programs, providing efficiency and flexibility in radiation therapy for a variety of treatment types, including 3D conformal, IMRT, electron, proton, and brachytherapy.
Multipurpose Laboratory
A 2012 Department of Energy NEUP grant funded creation of the RSEL's Nuclear Safeguards and Forensics (NSF) Laboratory. Development of the NSF space included installation of a Broad Energy High Purity Germanium (BEGe) gamma detection system (including Genie2K and ISOCS software), counter shield,Teflon-coated glove box, and a pneumatic rabbit transfer system. The pneumatic transfer system couples the glove box and BEGe system to the D-T neutron generator vault, enabling rapid NAA analysis.
Radiation Physics Laboratory
The Southern Nuclear Radiation Physics Laboratory resides in the RSEL's High Bay Support Facility, allowing ready access not only to a variety of detectors and moderators, but also to the full suite of neutron and gamma ray sources. This user facility is equipped with the standard range of radiation detection instrumentation to carry out a variety of radiation detection and nuclear engineering experiments.
Neutron Vault
For applications requiring neutron source strengths beyond the safety limits of the High Bay Support Facility, the RSEL is equipped with a Neutron Generator Vault. This vault is highly shielded, with vented atmospheric controls to house a D-T neutron generator with source strengths of up to 1.0E12 n/s; the vault currently houses a 1.0E8 n/s pulsed sealed tube D-T generator donated to Georgia Tech by Southern Nuclear.
Calibration Lab
In FY2013, the RSEL underwent an expansion to create the Calibration Laboratory. This laboratory contains a 4 m ANSI standard linear calibration track with a 29R/hr 137Cs gamma source for precise gamma ray irradiation; this track also has the flexibility to add neutron irradiation capabilities to facilitate detector testing and calibration.
Materials Laboratory
The centerpiece of the RSEL Materials Laboratory is a NanoTest anoindenter, the most flexible modular testing system available and capable of high resolution mechanical analysis in the micrometer and nanometer regimes.
Radioactive Sources
Because it contains several shielded storage containers, as well as a graphite pile, the High Bay Support Facility is the main RSEL staging and storage area for a variety of collected sources and shields. The facility is also equipped with spherical shells of different compositions that can be paired with several of these sources to produce other moderated reference fields. The facility also contains a 1.0E8 D-T neutron generator, several gamma sources, and 2+ metric tons of natural uranium.