Re: Underwater Radiation Detector

[jgbarnes@ix.netcom.com (JAMES BARNES)]

Kirk,

We had a related need about a year ago during a characterization survey.  We 
built our own probe, and I think it might meet your requirements.

We used a modified Jordan Radector.  It has a "probe on a rope" configuration.  
We took the extended probe and put it in a PVC pipe housing, and then calibrated 
the lot.  I know that it took a 25' column of water with no problem; 40' probably 
would work.  Big advantage is that the Radector comes close to covering your dose 
range, PVC piping is cheap and easy to use, and the instrument is readily 
available and relative inexpensive.  1800' feet of cable is tough, but could be 
dealt with through pre-amplification, I would imagine.

Radector's have a reputation for being tough to calibrate, but we found that was 
a problem in the oddball, obsolete mercury batteries it uses, so our instrument 
guru even worked out that problem.

If you are interested and want more details, please call me at (213)-461-8935 and 
I'll get you with the instrument tech who put all this together.

Jim Barnes, CHP
RSO
Rockwell International, Rocketdyne Division

You wrote: 
>
>I am looking for a vendor that could supply a underwater radiation detector
>capable of being connected to a crawler robot.  The system can be connected
>to the robot and contain all the data to be downloaded on the surface (this
>is preferred), or have the detector and transmitter connected to the robot
>with a signal transmitted to a receiver on the surface.
>
>The detector needs to work in about 40 ft. of water and detect beta/gamma
>of 1E-06 to 1E+03 R/hr.  Cable lenght for transmitting signal would be
>about 1800 ft.
>
>Or if there is any organization that has a detector to meet these
>requirements that would be willing to rent for about one month.
>
>As this information would not be of interest to the list, please respond to
>me directly at krr@if.scientech.com
>
>
>