Performance of an alpha air monitor in a dusty environment
Monitoring for airborne alpha-emitting radionuclides such as plutonium can be especially problematic because of interference from background radiation and airborne dust. Alpha emissions of naturally occurring radon progeny can result in false alarms or prevent the system for accurately measuring low plutonium concentrations. Fortuitously, advances in microelectronics have enabled the development of affordable instruments that use alpha detection to measure the presence of plutonium in a background of radon progeny. Each air monitor includes a microchip-based multichannel analyzer that distinguishes alpha radiation as a function of alpha energy. Embedded computer programs analyze the spectrum of alpha radiation being detected and compute the contribution arising from plutonium. Accumulation of airborne dust can prevent alpha radiation collected on the sample filter from reaching the detector, thus underreporting plutonium concentration. The work reported in this paper was to quantify the effects of dust burial, determine minimum detection limits, and propose methods for avoiding errors in detecting airborne plutonium in dusty environments. The work was undertaken in support of the US Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), but is relevant to other operations involving the handling, cleanup, or disposal of plutonium.
- OSTI ID:
- 5326131
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-890604-; CODEN: TANSA; TRN: 90-002517
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (USA), Vol. 59; Conference: Annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society, Atlanta, GA (USA), 4-8 Jun 1989; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
AIR SAMPLERS
ACCURACY
ALPHA SOURCES
DETECTION
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
RADIATION MONITORING
AEROSOLS
ALARM SYSTEMS
BACKGROUND RADIATION
DUSTS
ERRORS
FILTERS
MULTI-CHANNEL ANALYZERS
PARTICLE SIZE
PLUTONIUM
QUANTITY RATIO
US DOE
WIPP
ACTINIDES
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
ION SOURCES
METALS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PARTICLE SOURCES
PILOT PLANTS
PULSE ANALYZERS
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIATIONS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
SAMPLERS
SIZE
SOLS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
US ORGANIZATIONS
054000* - Nuclear Fuels- Health & Safety
053000 - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects
540130 - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
220900 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety