An innovative portable detector for the live-monitoring of radionuclides in small terrestrial animals
Abstract
Radionuclide measurements in wildlife are required to demonstrate that the environment is not significantly impacted by radioactivity. Determination of internal radionuclide activity concentrations often requires destructive sampling. Development of alternative (non-lethal) measurement methods is therefore desirable. This thesis presents the design, construction and testing of a new portable live-monitoring detector for measuring radionuclide activity concentrations in small terrestrial animals. The detector is unique in that it enables field-based measurement of both gamma and beta emitting radionuclides (caesium-137 and strontium-90 are tested in this work) in living small animals. \n Literature on detector characteristics and radionuclides in the environment informed a modelling approach that was used to optimise the detector design. The optimised design contains two caesium iodide scintillators and two plastic scintillators, which enable the measurement of 137Cs and 90Sr respectively; all four scintillators were shaped and positioned to maximise detection from the organism. Four photomultiplier tubes collect light from the scintillators and a single channel analyser provides signal processing. Surrounding the detection materials is a lead shield designed to give an optimal balance between portability and background reduction. The organism to be measured is put into a card restraint that is designed to humanely secure it during counting. \n The portable detector was…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a thesis, done in animal, not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health. Reported size: 10 participants or records.
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