TESTING OF THE RADBALL TECHNOLOGY AT SAVANNAH RIVER NATIONAL LABORATORY

Abstract

The United Kingdom's National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) has developed a remote, nonelectrical, radiation-mapping device known as RadBall (patent pending), which offers a means to locate and quantify radiation hazards and sources within contaminated areas of the nuclear industry. Positive results from initial deployment trials in nuclear waste reprocessing plants at Sellafield in the United Kingdom and the anticipated future potential use of RadBall throughout the U.S. Department of Energy Complex have led to the NNL partnering with the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) to further test, underpin, and strengthen the technical performance of the technology. The study completed at SRNL addresses key aspects of the testing of the RadBall technology. The first set of tests was performed at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Health Physics Instrument Calibration Laboratory (HPICL) using various gamma-ray sources and an x-ray machine with known radiological characteristics. The objective of these preliminary tests was to identify the optimal dose and collimator thickness. The second set of tests involved a highly contaminated hot cell. The objective of this testing was to characterize a hot cell with unknown radiation sources. The RadBall calibration experiments and hot cell deployment were successful in that for each trial radiation tracks were visible. more » The deployment of RadBall can be accomplished in different ways depending on the size and characteristics of the contaminated area (e.g., a hot cell that already has a crane/manipulator available or highly contaminated room that requires the use of a remote control device with sensor and video equipment to position RadBall). This report also presents SRNL-designed RadBall accessories for future RadBall deployment (a harness, PODS, and robot). « less