Advanced open-path atmospheric pollution monitor for large areas

摘要

Large amounts of toxic waste materials, generated in manufacturing fuel for nuclear reactors, are stored in tanks buried over large areas at DOE sites. To prevent explosive concentrations of these gases, the gases are automatically vented to the atmosphere when the pressure exceeds a preset value. This project is to design, develop, and test an atmospheric pollution monitor which can measure concentrations of DOE-specified and EPA-specified hazardous gases over ranges as long as 4km. A CO2 laser to measure absorption spectra and to determine the distance over which the measurements are made, is combined with an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) to measure thermal emission spectra.