New portable hand-held radiation instruments for measurements and monitoring

Conference · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987 · Nucl. Mater. Manage. Annu. Meet. Proc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5815084

Fehlau, P E

Hand-held radiation monitors are often used to search pedestrians and motor vehicles for special nuclear material (SNM) as part of a physical protection plan for nuclear materials. Recently, the Los Alamos Advanced Nuclear Technology group has commercialized an improved hand-held monitor that can be used for both physical-protection monitoring and verification measurements in nuclear material control and waste management. The new monitoring instruments are smaller and lighter; operate much longer on a battery charge; are available with NaI(Tiota) or neutron and gamma-ray sensitive plastic scintillation detectors; and are less expensive than other comparable instruments. They also have a second operating mode for making precise measurements over counting times as long as 99 s. This mode permits making basic verification measurements that may be needed before transporting nuclear material or waste outside protected areas. Improved verification measurements can be made with a second new hand-held instrument that has a stabilized detector and three separate gamma-ray energy windows to obtain spectral information for SNM quantity, enrichment, or material-type verification.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., Los Alamos, NM 87545
• OSTI ID: 5815084
• Report Number(s): CONF-870713-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Nucl. Mater. Manage. Annu. Meet. Proc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 16
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

055001* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Safeguards
Inspection
& Accountability-- Technical Aspects
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
DETECTION
DOMESTIC SAFEGUARDS
EQUIPMENT
GAMMA DETECTION
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
IODIDES
IODINE COMPOUNDS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MONITORING
NEUTRON DETECTION
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NUCLEAR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT
PERSONNEL
PHOSPHORS
PHYSICAL PROTECTION
PORTABLE EQUIPMENT
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SAFEGUARDS
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SCINTILLATIONS
SECURITY
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM IODIDES
VEHICLES
VERIFICATION
WASTES