ML20009B409
| ML20009B409 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 04/04/1980 |
| From: | Budnitz R NRC OFFICE OF NUCLEAR REGULATORY RESEARCH (RES) |
| To: | Stello V NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE) |
| References | |
| RIL-086, RIL-86, NUDOCS 8107150390 | |
| Download: ML20009B409 (2) | |
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NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
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I WASHINGTON, D. C. 20555
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Victor Stello, Jr., Director MEMORANDUM FOR:
Office of Inspec. tion and Enforcement Robert J. Budnitz, Director FROM:
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research 86 - A GAS SCINTILLATION RESEARCH INFORMATION LETTER # PROPOR
SUBJECT:
AND THE ENVIRONMENT This memorandum transmits the results of comple This work was performed by the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) under the direction of the Environmental Eff and the environment.
Research Branch of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) fa response to Research Request IE-76-3.
Gas scintillation proportional counters were originally developed for.useThe in spacecraft for X-ray astronomy studies.
gator recognized their potential application for the measurement of h
plutonium and other transuranic :adionuclides in the human detectors and conventional proportional counters results from the better environment.
photopeak resolution for the L-X-ray photopeaks of plutonium-239.
The first half of this project was spent in constructing prototype counters which would be uniformly responsive over the entire Although counters using a reflector and a wave shif ter h
produced more measurable light than those measuring the ultraviole plutonium-239.
directly, the direct ultraviolet light counter was chosen because the reflector and wave shifter :oatings produced excessive sparking and non-The prot'lem of poor resolution was overcome by using converging concentric ring electrodes in the drift region and by using a uniform response.
spherical window and a spharical grid design.
Both the pulse height and energy resolution of the GSPC were meas the energy range of 5.9 t0 59.5 key.
this range, but the energy resolution did diverge slightly a energies.
of degradation in resolution or efficiency.
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. The GSPC was calibrated for lung counting using the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory tissue-equivalent human-torso phantom. The counter was used to measure two people who had known body burdens of plutonium-239 and americium-241.
It had the same counting efficiency as the 12.5 cm diameter.
-Phoswich detector, typically used for determining lung burdens of plutonium.
Because of the naturally occurring radioactivity in the materials of which the counter was constructed, the sensitivity of the GSPC was not better than that of-the Phoswich detector. Construction of a lcw background GSPC using extremely pure construction materials wn begun, when this project ended.
When completed, it will be the most sen:;itive counter available for measuringplutoniumj_nvivo.
n We are enclosing a. copy of the final report for the project. We recommend that your staff review it'and determine if you would like further research to determine the usefulness of GSPC's for measuring plutonium in the environment. The RES technical contact for this work is Dr. Judith D. Foulke (427-4358).
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Robert J. Budnitz, Director Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research l
Enclosure:
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