Workplace Safety Solution for Radiological - Health and Safety - Radiation Safety
Every year a significant amount of radioactive sources disappear, are found or are stolen. Smuggling of radiological or nuclear material is becoming more and more frequent. Hospitals, medical science, lighthouses, power plants and industry all use different types of radiological sources. Every day the nuclear power plants create nuclear waste, which has to be handled and stored. Opportunities for the material to become misplaced, stolen or a container to leak because of and accident are numerous. Even a small amount of radioactive material can be used in a dirty bomb, which effects will be extremely harmful to the infrastructure or a misplaced source can cause serious danger as the symptoms appear few days after exposure.
In the time of radiological threat, like nuclear accident or a dirty bomb, the keys to minimizing the effects are accurate detection and fast response. These are achieved by performing a sufficient amount of measurements with the correct instruments to ensure early warning.
A good mobile measuring system is able to perform measurements while moving. A better system can analyze the results in real time. The analysis must be fully automated, reliable and able to transfer the key findings to a remote operations center. The crew must have good interactive tools for the fast review of any suspect finding produced by the detectors.
Common types of wearable dosimeters for ionizing radiation include:
- Film badge dosimeter
- Quartz fiber dosimeter
- Solid state (MOSFET or silicon diode) dosimeter
- Thermoluminescent dosimeter
A number of commonly used detection instrument types are listed below, and are used for both fixed and survey monitoring.
- Ionization chambers
- Proportional counters
- Geiger counters
- Semiconductor detectors
- Scintillation detectors
- Airborne particulate radioactivity monitoring