Radioactive sources can find their way into scrap and recycling yards through both naturally occurring radioactive sources, such as scale on pipes in the oil and gas industry and through orphaned industrial sources. Turning away a load could jeopardise a supplier relationship that has been built through extensive efforts. Facilities in this situation have an interest not only in protecting their personnel, but also in protecting their own facility as well as their business relationships. The subsequent passing on and melting of an orphaned source can result in millions of rands in lost revenue and clean-up expenses.
The RadEye PRD is the next generation of advanced radiation meters. Thermo Scientific’s newest Personnel Radiation Detector (PRD) was developed in response to a growing need for smaller, more compact detectors, which have even more sensitivity to unwelcome radioactive sources. The RadEye PRD represents a high-performance measuring device designed to be used in conjunction with a vehicle monitoring system, for persons who are responsible for detecting and localising radiation sources, such as scale operators, scrap inspectors or quality control personnel.
The RadEye PRD is a low-cost and convenient tool for helping to detect and locate orphaned sources or problematic NORM related sources. For example, if a small or well-shielded radiation source is deeply embedded in the scrap load it may pass through a vehicle monitoring system undetected. However, when the surrounding scrap is removed during the unloading process, the small RadEye unit, worn by key personnel, offers a most efficient second line of defence. With the RadEye worn on a belt holster, personnel are always in a position to locate an unwanted radioactive source.
The RadEye weighs a few hundred grams, and is about the size of a pager. The characteristic features are the use of sophisticated low-power technology components and fully automatic self-checks, which result in minimum maintenance. It is one of the only instruments of this size, which is able to compensate for the variations of the natural background that is present in most locations, thus full sensitivity is combined with the virtual absence of any false alarms.
The RadEye PRD incorporates Thermo’s NBR technology (natural background rejection). NBR enables the RadEye to have enhanced sensitivity with fewer false alarms. It also gives an indication of whether the source is high energy, low energy or likely to be naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM).
A dedicated optional Windows based GateCheck software and an accompanying reader device is available for downloading scan readings for printing on a radiation certificate, which can then be sent together with the scanned load to the destination.
For further details contact OEN Enterprises on TEL: 011 675 4447 or visit www.oenenterprises.co.za
