Dynamic Radioactive Source for Evaluating and Demonstrating Time-dependent Performance of Continuous Air Monitors

McLean, Thomas D.; Moore, Murray E.; Justus, Alan L.; Hudston, Jonathan A.; Barbé, Benoît

doi:10.1097/HP.0000000000000558

Title: Dynamic Radioactive Source for Evaluating and Demonstrating Time-dependent Performance of Continuous Air Monitors

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Abstract

Evaluation of continuous air monitors in the presence of a plutonium aerosol is time intensive, expensive, and requires a specialized facility. The Radiation Protection Services Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory has designed a Dynamic Radioactive Source, intended to replace plutonium aerosol challenge testing. Furthermore, the Dynamic Radioactive Source is small enough to be inserted into the sampler filter chamber of a typical continuous air monitor. Time-dependent radioactivity is introduced from electroplated sources for real-time testing of a continuous air monitor where a mechanical wristwatch motor rotates a mask above an alpha-emitting electroplated disk source. The mask is attached to the watch’s minute hand, and as it rotates, more of the underlying source is revealed. The alpha activity we measured increases with time, simulating the arrival of airborne radioactive particulates at the air sampler inlet. The Dynamic Radioactive Source allows the temporal behavior of puff and chronic release conditions to be mimicked without the need for radioactive aerosols. The new system is configurable to different continuous air monitor designs and provides an in-house testing capability (benchtop compatible). It is a repeatable and reusable system and does not contaminate the tested air monitor. Test benefits include direct user control, realistic (plutonium)more »« less

Authors:

McLean, Thomas D. ^[1]; Moore, Murray E. ^[1]; Justus, Alan L. ^[1]; Hudston, Jonathan A. ^[1]; Barbé, Benoît ^[1]

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Publication Date:: Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 1340922

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-16-22328
Journal ID: ISSN 0017-9078

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Health Physics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 111; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 0017-9078

Publisher:: Health Physics Society

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES; aerosols; algorithm; instrumentation; monitoring; air

Citation Formats


                    McLean, Thomas D., Moore, Murray E., Justus, Alan L., Hudston, Jonathan A., and Barbé, Benoît. Dynamic Radioactive Source for Evaluating and Demonstrating Time-dependent Performance of Continuous Air Monitors.  United States: N. p., 2016. 
Web.  doi:10.1097/HP.0000000000000558.

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                    McLean, Thomas D., Moore, Murray E., Justus, Alan L., Hudston, Jonathan A., & Barbé, Benoît. Dynamic Radioactive Source for Evaluating and Demonstrating Time-dependent Performance of Continuous Air Monitors.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000000558

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                    McLean, Thomas D., Moore, Murray E., Justus, Alan L., Hudston, Jonathan A., and Barbé, Benoît. Fri .  
"Dynamic Radioactive Source for Evaluating and Demonstrating Time-dependent Performance of Continuous Air Monitors".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000000558.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1340922.

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@article{osti_1340922,

  title        = {Dynamic Radioactive Source for Evaluating and Demonstrating Time-dependent Performance of Continuous Air Monitors},

  author       = {McLean, Thomas D. and Moore, Murray E. and Justus, Alan L. and Hudston, Jonathan A. and Barbé, Benoît},

  abstractNote = {Evaluation of continuous air monitors in the presence of a plutonium aerosol is time intensive, expensive, and requires a specialized facility. The Radiation Protection Services Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory has designed a Dynamic Radioactive Source, intended to replace plutonium aerosol challenge testing. Furthermore, the Dynamic Radioactive Source is small enough to be inserted into the sampler filter chamber of a typical continuous air monitor. Time-dependent radioactivity is introduced from electroplated sources for real-time testing of a continuous air monitor where a mechanical wristwatch motor rotates a mask above an alpha-emitting electroplated disk source. The mask is attached to the watch’s minute hand, and as it rotates, more of the underlying source is revealed. The alpha activity we measured increases with time, simulating the arrival of airborne radioactive particulates at the air sampler inlet. The Dynamic Radioactive Source allows the temporal behavior of puff and chronic release conditions to be mimicked without the need for radioactive aerosols. The new system is configurable to different continuous air monitor designs and provides an in-house testing capability (benchtop compatible). It is a repeatable and reusable system and does not contaminate the tested air monitor. Test benefits include direct user control, realistic (plutonium) aerosol spectra, and iterative development of continuous air monitor alarm algorithms. We also used data obtained using the Dynamic Radioactive Source to elucidate alarm algorithms and to compare the response time of two commercial continuous air monitors.},

  doi          = {10.1097/HP.0000000000000558},

  journal      = {Health Physics},

  number       = 5,

  volume       = 111,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016},

  month        = {Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2016}

}

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