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RE: Portable gamma spectroscopy

Yes, Exploranium's portals are great and their hand-held is nice too.  A handheld portable would definitely be your choice.  Many manufacturers have them.  The hand-helds are typically NaI detectors and have limited libraries and could mis-identify nuclides (e.g. I have seen them ID Ra-226 as a combination of Cs-137, Co-60 and other nuclides when Ra was not in the library.)  I would suggest that you get a spectroscopist experienced in field work to help with the selection.  Each brand has strengths and weaknesses that need to be selected for your particular needs.

Most manufacturer's will allow you to borrow units to evaluate them for your purposes.  As another option, you could rent units to see if you like them before purchasing.

If you are going to give advanced instruments to inexperienced staff, please be aware that they will get erroneous results at one time or another and will need support/interpretation by someone knowledgeable.

Good Luck,

Kevin Wright

>From: "Grimm, Lawrence"
>Reply-To: "Grimm, Lawrence"
>To: "'Edwards, Richard W'" , "'RADSAFE'"
>Subject: RE: Portable gamma spectroscopy
>Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 11:17:03 -0700
>
>Richard:
>
>Consider the Exploranium radiation detection systems, specifically their miniSPEC. We have one and found it quite useful in field situations. I know they have a nuclear medicine library module that recognizes the common nuclear medicine nuclides. They are in Ontario Canada and the phone is 905-670-7071. Judging from your described needs, I would bet this is would fit the bill. They are light weight, easy to field calibrate, and the info downloads to your computer for better analysis.
>
>Larry Grimm
>UCLA EH&S/ Radiation Safety Division
>* lgrimm@admin.ucla.edu Phone:310/206-0712 Fax: 310/206-9051
>Cell: 310/863-5556 Pager:1-800-233-7231ext93569
>* On Campus: 501 Westwood Plaza, 4th Floor, MS 951605
>* Off Campus: UCLA Radiation Safety Div, 501 Westwood Plaza 4th
>Fl, Box 951605, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1605
>* If this email is not RSD business, the opinions are mine, not
>UCLA's.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Edwards, Richard W [mailto:richard.w.edwards@BOEING.COM]
>Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2002 7:45 AM
>To: 'RADSAFE'
>Subject: RE: Portable gamma spectroscopy
>
>
>One of these days I'll learn how to phrase a question that doesn't raise
>more questions than answers. Which is not to say that I haven't gotten some
>good answers already. However, several people have questioned what we are
>trying to do. So...
>
>Like many organizations post-9/11, we're reviewing our security
>arrangements. In this case, we're looking into what to do after an entry
>gate or portal monitor alarms, alerting us to a radioactive source coming in
>on a vehicle, in a package or on an person. One possibility under
>investigation is to equip the security personnel with some device that gives
>them a limited capability to identify the nuclides involve which they could
>compare to a list of common medical and industrial isotopes. This would give
>them the ability to "clear" some alarms without activating the entire
>anti-terrorism response...whatever that is.
>
>The group that is looking into this asked me for some advice in finding an
>instrument that would allow them to do this. As I have no experience with
>the kinds of portable systems that they would find useful, I thought I would
>try to augment my ability to weed through manufacturer literature and
>presentations with some personal experience of others. Thus my question to
>Radsafe
>
>I believe that the key factors will turn out to be: ease of use by security
>staff, portability and cost. The ability to quantify activity, detect low
>levels in a short period of time, or differentiate uncommon nuclides are not
>required and may not be desirable. Certainly any system that requires a
>trained spectroscopist or substantial outlay of time and money to maintain
>in the field will be excluded.
>
>Thanks to everyone who has already replied.
>
>Rick Edwards, Analyst
>The Boeing Company
>richard.w.edwards@boeing.com
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