Initial experience with optical-CT scanning of RadBall Dosimeters

Area of Science:

• Nuclear instrumentation and radiation detection.
• Medical physics and imaging techniques.
• Environmental monitoring and remediation.

Background:

• Accurate characterization of radioactive contamination is crucial for safety in nuclear facilities.
• Existing methods for mapping unknown radiation sources can be limited in scope and resolution.
• The RadBall dosimeter offers a novel approach to 3-D radiation source assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the RadBall dosimeter's capability for imaging radiation dose distributions.
• To investigate the use of optical-CT scanning for analyzing RadBall data.
• To assess the performance of the Duke Mid-sized Optical-CT Scanner (DMOS) in this application.

Main Methods:

• Exposing RadBalls to various radiation sources and doses.
• Utilizing the Duke Mid-sized Optical-CT Scanner (DMOS) to scan the irradiated RadBalls.
• Analyzing the resulting optical-CT data to reconstruct 3-D dose distributions.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated successful imaging of dose distributions within the RadBall using optical-CT.
• Initial investigations show the feasibility of the DMOS for RadBall analysis.
• The technique provides 3-D information on radiation magnitude and distribution.

Conclusions:

• Optical-CT scanning is a critical and effective component for the RadBall dosimeter technique.
• The RadBall, coupled with optical-CT, shows promise as a diagnostic tool for unknown radiation contaminants in the nuclear industry.
• Further evaluation by the National Nuclear Lab and Savannah River National Laboratory is ongoing.