Efficiency calibration and minimum detectable activity concentration of a real-time UAV airborne sensor system with two gamma spectrometers

Xiao-Bin Tang; Jia Meng; Peng Wang; Ye Cao; Xi Huang; Liang-Sheng Wen; Da Chen

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.01.008

Efficiency calibration and minimum detectable activity concentration of a real-time UAV airborne sensor system with two gamma spectrometers

Appl Radiat Isot. 2016 Apr:110:100-108. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.01.008. Epub 2016 Jan 6.

Authors

Xiao-Bin Tang¹, Jia Meng², Peng Wang², Ye Cao², Xi Huang², Liang-Sheng Wen², Da Chen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Nuclear Energy Equipment Materials Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China. Electronic address: tangxiaobin@nuaa.edu.cn.
² Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.
³ Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Nuclear Energy Equipment Materials Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China.

PMID: 26773821
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.01.008

Abstract

A small-sized UAV (NH-UAV) airborne system with two gamma spectrometers (LaBr3 detector and HPGe detector) was developed to monitor activity concentration in serious nuclear accidents, such as the Fukushima nuclear accident. The efficiency calibration and determination of minimum detectable activity concentration (MDAC) of the specific system were studied by MC simulations at different flight altitudes, different horizontal distances from the detection position to the source term center and different source term sizes. Both air and ground radiation were considered in the models. The results obtained may provide instructive suggestions for in-situ radioactivity measurements of NH-UAV.

Keywords: Efficiency calibration; Minimum detectable activity concentration; Monte Carlo simulation; Nuclear accident.