Experiment Wrap-up

Cool-down period

After the conclusion of your beam time your experimental chamber will have to stay in the underground areas of HiRadMat. This cool-down period is necessary for the residual dose to decay to safe levels for handling and is split into two phases:

  1. at the end of the initial cool-down phase the experiment will be moved to the cool-down area located behind the beam dump of HiRadMat.
  2. The experiment remains in the cool-down area until it can be retrieved from the underground areas to be transferred to the user.

The cool-down period will be determined by RP based on the radiological assessment of the experiment during the Technical Boards. Access to the experimental chamber for visual inspection shortly after beam time is only possible upon request and clearance by RP.

Retrieval and return of experimental chamber

After the experiment cool-down period experimental chambers will be disconnected from the HiRadMat experimental table. The removal of experimental chambers from HiRadMat depends on the status of the user:

  • CERN users: Transfer into radioactive storage (requested by the user) after cooldown at HiRadMat and transfer of responsibility to the user.
  • External users: removal to the host institute via CERN’s radioactive shipping service once acceptable activation levels have been reached. Upon reception transfer of responsibility to the user.