New radiation detection tools from Princeton Gamma Tech Instruments used on test programme
Princeton Gamma-Tech Instruments has completed radiation sensor testing on the Boeing Echo Ranger Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV).
New radiation detection tools from Princeton Gamma Tech Instruments were included in included in a series of tests performed by the Boeing Echo Ranger, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) during recent testing in the Pacific Ocean, of Catalina Island, Calif.
The test campaign allowed spectroscopic monitoring of the seabed.
The cooperative effort included engineers from both organisations combining best practices to perform ultra-low level isotope discrimination that is naturally occurring in the Pacific Ocean .
Applications for advanced nuclear radiation detection and underwater isotope identification include uranium exploration, underwater vessel interdiction and border security..
Princeton Gamma Tech offers a patented technology for background subtraction which allows levels down to 100X below background to be identified, as well as isotope category and isotope specific dose rates.
"As an AUV service provider, we gained important knowledge about the near-term prospect of combining Boeing's high-level autonomous behaviours with PGT's rapid on-board processing for a truly autonomous undersea radiological search capability," states Jameson Garrett, program development manager with Boeing Information Solutions, part of Boeing Defense, Space and Security (BDS).
The test efforts represent an expansion of applications for Princeton Gamma Tech and other manufacturers of radiation detection into a broad cross-section of environmental monitoring applications.
Air monitoring stations, water purification and sampling, industrial hygiene and other related industries are scrambling in recent months to integrate nuclear detection sensors and capability after the unexpected release of radioactive materials into the ecosystem following the Fukushima Japan Nuclear Power Plant accident in March, 2011.
Data from the PGT Isotope Identifier shows the characteristic peaks from salt water.
K40 (the scientific notation for potassium or table salt) has a signature peak between 1400 - 1500 keV.
The attenuation and shielding of radiation in water is considerable.
It was represented by the peak shift from the measurement above and below water.
Marine exercises have enabled manufacturers to compensate for the very low backgrounds (below 5 uR/hr) which exist only at sea, a condition unfamiliar on land where backgrounds of 10uR/hr and higher are considered NORM.
