RADIATION MONITORS

The Institute develops and fabricates a wide range of the dosimetry, spectrometry and radiometry equipment both for the monitoring & control of the pulsed sources of the ionizing radiation produced at VNIIA, and for the application in the nuclear material physical protection, control & accounting systems.

Hand-held radiation monitor

The Rosatom's decree declared VNIIA the leading facility for the equipment support of such systems.

One of the main goals of the system is to prevent theft of nuclear and radioactive materials (NRM) attractive for the terrorists, the nuclear weapons design or capable of contaminating the environment.

Radiation monitoring system	Checkpoint, equipped with the adiation monitoring system

To fulfill this goal, different equipment developed at VNIIA is applied: radiation monitors with the high sensitivity to the uranium and plutonium, the equipment for the detection and identification of the isotopic composition and weight of the nuclear material using neutron and gamma radiation.

There are two types of such equipment:

• Portal, which are designed for the detection of the radiation that is higher than the natural background in different objects (pedestrians, transport, luggage, mail, common and industrial waste and materials, etc.);
• Hand-held, which are designed for the inspection of the suspicious items, detected by the portal radiation monitor, and for the inspections of the buildings and the environment to detect the radioactive contamination.

The hand-held radiation monitors are capable of detecting 0.03 g of ²³⁹Pu and 0.3 g of ²³⁵U.

The equipment serially produced at VNIIA is remarkable for the following features:

• The whole complex of the radiation monitors has the unified metrology support, thus enhancing the reliability of the NRM detection and simplifying the maintenance in the operation;
• The variety of applications due to the structural flexibility and small overall dimensions of the units. This allows easily and quickly equipping any types of checkpoints, even being in operation without significant refurbishment, and also equipping doors and conveyors with the monitors;
• Capability to operate in a wide range of temperatures, humidity and mechanic loads;
• Small weight and overall dimensions;
• Operation safety due to the low-voltage (5-12 V) power of the external detection units;
• Low cost.

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