Instrumentation for Radiological Emergency Responses

Abstract

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the instrumentation and associated techniques that would be used to perform radiological monitoring at an accident/incident involving the release of radioactive materials. This article is not intended to serve as a user's manual for the various instruments. However, it is intended to include sufficient detail to provide an appreciation and use of such techniques in case of an emergency. For completeness, some elementary characteristics of different kinds of radiation are also included. Quantitative measurements of radioactive contamination in the field is extremely difficult. Particles having short ranges, such as alpha and low energy beta radiation, are significantly and incalculably affected by minute amounts of dust or precipitation. Therefore, detection - rather than measurement - is a more realistic goal for alpha-beta surveys. More penetrating radiations such as gamma and higher energy x-rays are less effected by such overburden.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA207901

Entities

People

  • J. T. Klopcic

Organizations

  • Ballistic Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alpha Particles
  • Beta Particles
  • Classification
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Emergencies
  • Gamma Rays
  • Hot Spots
  • Instrumentation
  • Ionization
  • Measurement
  • Nuclear Radiation
  • Radiation Monitors
  • Radioactive Materials
  • Scintillation Counters
  • X Rays
  • X-Ray Detectors

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment.
  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design