Development and testing of a continuous maritime monitor for radionuclide aerosols

Abstract

Monitoring airborne concentrations of radionuclide activity may provide a timely warning to sea-based assets to avoid contamination from a radioactive plume. The development and testing of an automated aerosol monitoring system that can capture and detect radioactive particulate from marine air is presented. A custom electrostatic precipitator (ESP) was designed to capture particulate onto a reusable collection media. The collection efficiency of the ESP system for radon progeny was determined to be ∼23 %. A conservative calculation of the minimum detectable concentration of ²¹⁴Bi was estimated as 0.3-8 Bq/m³. The system was demonstrated in continuous operation, without consumables and limited maintenance, in a marine environment at the PNNL campus in Sequim, Washington. A successful 2-month deployment indicates the feasibility of the approach for continuous maritime monitoring for radionuclide aerosols.

Keywords: Air sampling; Electrostatic precipitator; Gamma spectroscopy; Maritime environments; Radioactive aerosols; Radon progeny.