RADIATION MONITORING DEVICES, INC. — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 32c

Description

Nuclear material control and accountability aims at developing and maintaining appropriate measures to account for and secure nuclear materials in production, use, storage, and transport. Therefore, radiation detectors inevitably form the basic element of nuclear material control. The current technology uses sodium iodide, lanthanum bromide, high purity germanium detectors for gamma-ray detection and fission chambers, helium-3 gas detectors for neutron detection. As the availability of helium-3 gas is becoming scarce it is crucial to implement new sensors, which are capable of detecting thermal neutrons with high sensitivity. In addition, if the same sensors can detect gamma-rays with good energy resolution, that will be an added advantage. Hence, the goal of our effort is to implement new, high performance dual-mode sensors that are capable of detecting both gamma-rays and thermal neutrons. Our solution is to develop a detector technology for material accounting utilizing a newly discovered scintillation material. The composition should be comparable to the cost of sodium iodide, while maintaining better energy resolution and having neutron detection capabilities. Both features directly impact and improve identification of nuclear materials. Phase I will focus on the development of our material. Several crystals will be grown to study details of the composition and better understanding of the growth. Performance of these crystals will be evaluated and the optimal parameters determined. The material will also be tested and evaluated at a National Laboratory. A radiation detection system capable of simultaneous detection of gamma-rays and neutrons with high gamma-ray resolution and neutron efficiency will easily find its application in homeland security, in addition to nuclear physics, and medical applications.