Investigation of Techniques to Improve Continuous Air Monitors Under Conditions of High Dust Loading in Environmental Settings
- Physics Department New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
A number of DOE facilities, such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), use alpha-particle environmental continuous air monitors (ECAMs) to monitor air for unwanted releases of radioactive aerosols containing such materials as plutonium and uranium. High sensitivity, ease of operation, and lack of false alarms are all important for ECAMs. The object of the project was to conduct investigations to improve operation of ECAMs, particularly under conditions where a lot of nonradioactive dust may be deposited on the filters (conditions of high dust loading). The presence of such dust may increase the frequency with which filters must be changed and can lead to an increased incidence of false alarms due to deteriorated energy resolution and response specificity to the radionuclides of interest. A major finding of the investigation, not previously documented, was that under many conditions thick layers of underlying nonradioactive dust do not decrease energy resolution and specificity for target radionuclides if the radioactive aerosol arrives as a sudden thin burst deposit, as commonly occurs in the early-warning alarm mode. As a result, operators of ECAMs may not need to change filters as often as previously thought and have data upon which to base more reliable operating procedures.
- Research Organization:
- New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG07-97ER62519
- OSTI ID:
- 799221
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/62519; EMSP 60163
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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