Evaluation of the Detection Efficiency of LYSO Scintillator in the Fiber-Optic Radiation Sensor

Chan Hee Park,Rinah Kim,Joo Hyun Moon,Arim Lee

doi:10.1155/2014/248403

Chan Hee Park, Rinah Kim + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/248403

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate fiber-optic sensors for the remote detection of gamma rays in areas that are difficult to access, such as a spent fuel pool. The fiber-optic sensor consists of a light-generating probe, such as scintillators for radiation detection, plastic optical fibers, and light-measuring devices, such as PMT. The (Lu,Y)2SiO5:Ce(LYSO:Ce) scintillator was chosen as the light-generating probe. The (Lu,Y)2SiO5:Ce(LYSO:Ce) scintillator has higher scintillation efficiency than the others and transmits light well through an optical fiber because its refraction index is similar to the refractive index of the optical fiber. The fiber-optic radiation sensor using the (Lu,Y)2SiO5:Ce(LYSO:Ce) scintillator was evaluated in terms of the detection efficiency and reproducibility for examining its applicability as a radiation sensor.

Highlights

Workers should take extreme care when approaching high radiation areas, such as areas neighboring highly radioactive equipment or spent fuel pool, due to the risks of radiation exposure
The radiation levels on the water surface of the pool need to be measured using a portable radiation detector that a worker brings to the measurement point
Optical fibers have been applied for remote radiation detection

Summary

Introduction

Workers should take extreme care when approaching high radiation areas, such as areas neighboring highly radioactive equipment or spent fuel pool, due to the risks of radiation exposure. The radiation levels surrounding the spent fuel pool are generally measured using the fixed type radiation detector system. The applications of optical fiber technology include local dose deposition measurements and distributed hot-spots dose monitoring in nuclear waste storage facilities [2, 3]. The development of optical fiber radiation sensors has been driven mostly by medical applications such as in vivo real-time dosimetry [4]. The possibility of distributed optical fiber sensing technology was proven by monitoring the large nuclear infrastructures, such as reactor containment buildings and radioactive waste repositories [5]

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