Standoff alpha radiation detection for hot cell imaging and crime scene investigation

This paper presents the remote detection of alpha contamination in a nuclear facility. Alpha-active material in a shielded nuclear radiation containment chamber has been localized by optical means. Furthermore, sources of radiation danger have been identified in a staged crime scene setting. For this purpose, an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device camera was used to capture photons generated by alpha-induced air scintillation (radioluminescence). The detected radioluminescence was superimposed with a regular photograph to reveal the origin of the light and thereby the alpha radioactive material. The experimental results show that standoff detection of alpha contamination is a viable tool in radiation threat detection. Furthermore, the radioluminescence spectrum in the air is spectrally analyzed. Possibilities of camera-based alpha threat detection under various background lighting conditions are discussed.

KERST Thomas;  SAND Johan;  IHANTOLA Sakari;  PERÄJÄRVI K.;  NICHOLL Adrian;  HRNECEK Erich;  TOIVONEN H.;  TOIVONEN Juha; 

2018-12-18

OPTICAL SOC JAPAN

JRC112787

1340-6000,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC112787,   

10.1007/s10043-018-0413-8,