135Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring

Ranjbar, Lily; Farsoni, Abi T.; Becker, Eric M.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.12.003

Title: ¹³⁵Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring

Abstract

Measurement of elevated concentrations of xenon radioisotopes (131mXe, 133mXe, 133Xe and 135Xe) in the atmosphere has been shown to be a very powerful method for verifying whether or not a detected explosion is nuclear in nature. These isotopes are among the few with enough mobility and with half-lives long enough to make their detection at long distances realistic. Existing radioxenon detection systems used by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) suffer from problems such as complexity, need for high maintenance and memory effect. To study the response of CdZnTe (CZT) detectors to xenon radioisotopes and investigate whether it is capable of mitigating the aforementioned issues with the current radioxenon detection systems, a prototype detector utilizing two coplanar CZT detectors was built and tested at Oregon State University. The detection system measures xenon radioisotopes through beta-gamma coincidence technique by detecting coincidence events between the two detectors. In this paper, we introduce the detector design and report our measurement results with radioactive lab sources and 135Xe produced in the OSU TRIGA reactor. Minimum detectable concentration (MDC) for 135Xe was calculated to be 1.47±0.05 mBq/m3.

Authors:

^[1]; Farsoni, Abi T. ^[1]; Becker, Eric M. ^[1]

Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). School of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Publication Date:: Fri Feb 03 00:00:00 EST 2017

Research Org.:: Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation

OSTI Identifier:: 1367561

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1419102; OSTI ID: 1487104

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0002534

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 169-170; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0265-931X

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Radioxenon detection; Nuclear explosion monitoring; Beta-gamma coincidence; CZT; Coplanar detector; Digital pulse processing Digital pulse processing

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                    Ranjbar, Lily, Farsoni, Abi T., and Becker, Eric M. 135Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring.  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.12.003.

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                    Ranjbar, Lily, Farsoni, Abi T., & Becker, Eric M. 135Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.12.003

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                    Ranjbar, Lily, Farsoni, Abi T., and Becker, Eric M. Fri .  
"135Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.12.003.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1367561.

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@article{osti_1367561,

  title        = {135Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring},

  author       = {Ranjbar, Lily and Farsoni, Abi T. and Becker, Eric M.},

  abstractNote = {Measurement of elevated concentrations of xenon radioisotopes (131mXe, 133mXe, 133Xe and 135Xe) in the atmosphere has been shown to be a very powerful method for verifying whether or not a detected explosion is nuclear in nature. These isotopes are among the few with enough mobility and with half-lives long enough to make their detection at long distances realistic. Existing radioxenon detection systems used by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) suffer from problems such as complexity, need for high maintenance and memory effect. To study the response of CdZnTe (CZT) detectors to xenon radioisotopes and investigate whether it is capable of mitigating the aforementioned issues with the current radioxenon detection systems, a prototype detector utilizing two coplanar CZT detectors was built and tested at Oregon State University. The detection system measures xenon radioisotopes through beta-gamma coincidence technique by detecting coincidence events between the two detectors. In this paper, we introduce the detector design and report our measurement results with radioactive lab sources and 135Xe produced in the OSU TRIGA reactor. Minimum detectable concentration (MDC) for 135Xe was calculated to be 1.47±0.05 mBq/m3.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.12.003},

  journal      = {Journal of Environmental Radioactivity},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 169-170,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Fri Feb 03 00:00:00 EST 2017},

  month        = {Fri Feb 03 00:00:00 EST 2017}

}

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Figures / Tables:

Table 1: Half-lives and characteristic energies for the decay of ^131mXe, ^133mXe, ¹³³Xe, and ¹³⁵Xe (Farsoni et al., 2013).

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Title: 135Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring

Abstract

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Title: ¹³⁵Xe measurements with a two-element CZT-based radioxenon detector for nuclear explosion monitoring