NEW HIGH-VOLUME THROUGHPUT RADIONUCLIDE AIR MONITOR

摘要

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must ensure that on-site worker health and safety are not compromised by airborne radioactive contamination. In addition, DOE must ensure that effluent air and gas streams leaving DOE sites and waste treatment facilities do not negatively impact public safety or health. Alpha-emitting radioisotopes, such as U-238/U-234 and Pu-239, are rated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as class A carcinogens. Uranium also has a high chemical toxicity. The development of improved airborne alpha-monitoring technology ranks as one of the top priorities of the DOE Deactivation and Decommissioning (D&D) Focus Area, based on the needs currently listed by six diverse DOE Site Technology Coordinating Groups. To meet these DOE requirements, Thermo Technologies is developing and testing a novel continuous air monitor (CAM) for isotopically monitoring alpha-emitting radionuclides. This CAM technology can also be applied to continuous emission monitoring (CEM) of thermal treatment system offgas streams. The very high alpha spectral resolution of the CAM instrument will provide real-time, on-line monitoring suitable for alerting workers of high concentrations of airborne alpha-emitting radionuclides and for improved control of decontamination, dismantlement, and air emission control equipment. In addition to being very cost-effective, the instrument will greatly improve data reliability by eliminating the self-shielding associated with filter-based assay instruments, and excellent isotopic resolution will permit operation in areas with dusty conditions and/or with high background radon levels.