U.S. Develops New Radiation Monitoring Instrument

Recently, the Ohio State University’s School of Engineering has developed a new type of radiation monitoring and detection instrument that can more accurately detect the level of radioactive contamination in the nuclear environment. At the same time, its cost will be lower than previous products and it will have excellent performance. The speed of detection.

At present, this new radiation spectrometer has been patented and the first products will be available soon. New technology also brings new business to Avicenna Equipment. The Ohio-based company will rely on research technology from Ohio State University to produce related parts. Relevant researchers said that this radiation spectrometer will eventually be promoted to the world, the relevant industries around the world can use this new technology.

It is reported that the annual cost of processing nuclear radiation-contaminated areas amounts to several hundred million US dollars. This is mainly the historical pollution left over from the production of nuclear weapons before and after World War II. These areas include the Hanford Atomic Energy Research Center in Washington State, the nuclear waste site in the Savannah River District in South Carolina, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

David Hamble, a professor of radiation protection at Ohio State University, said that the new spectrometer will be more efficient than previous detectors. It can detect and quantify gamma rays and beta radiation simultaneously. In order to detect both rays at the same time, there must be two different detection instruments and other chemical tests, which is a time-consuming process. "The new device can give accurate results to the test object in 15 minutes. In the past, this process took half a day. The new device not only simplifies the process, but also saves time and money."

The new spectrometer is the result of 10 years of research by David Habib and Abby Fossini, an associate professor at Ohio State University’s School of Engineering. The new spectrometer can quickly identify the type and amount of radionuclides contained in the test article. Through the detection of soil samples, the spectrometer showed that the soil samples contained contaminants such as cesium 137 and helium 90, which were produced from nuclear reactors. In addition, spectrometers can distinguish between gamma rays and beta particles, which is a necessary part of identifying pollution levels.

David Happi said: "We can also eliminate nuclear radiation pollutants, but this process is very expensive, and people in our field will ask this question, this so-called 'clear' can do more Thoroughly, therefore, we should do everything we can to increase research and development, and often to conduct precision testing, and we should also think of ways to control costs, all of which are conducive to our protection of the environment."

David Hamber said that this system can eventually be used to detect the radiation situation in the nuclear industry, but also can be applied to the radioactive tracking research in the medical community.

The Ohio State University School of Engineering has signed a contract with Ludlum Equipment Corporation of Texas to produce the first batch of equipment. The Ohio State University Technology Transfer Office also hopes to obtain a license for commercial development purposes. In addition, the spectrometer's electronic system will be produced by Avicenna.