Introducing the MARGOT prototype: An ultra-compact and mobile gas detection system for nuclear explosion monitoring

V Thomas; O Delaune; A Cagniant; G Le Petit; J-P Fontaine

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.06.032

Introducing the MARGOT prototype: An ultra-compact and mobile gas detection system for nuclear explosion monitoring

Appl Radiat Isot. 2019 Oct:152:91-100. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.06.032. Epub 2019 Jun 25.

Authors

V Thomas¹, O Delaune², A Cagniant², G Le Petit², J-P Fontaine²

Affiliations

¹ CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297, Arpajon, France. Electronic address: [email protected].
² CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297, Arpajon, France.

PMID: 31280113
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.06.032

Abstract

An ultra-compact and unshielded spectrometer for analysis of atmospheric radioxenons has been developed. This system works at ambient temperature and has a 58 cm³ inner active volume. Atmospheric radioxenons activities are determined with electron/photon coincidence technique using both NaI(Tl) detector and large pixellized Si-PIN detector. The performances of the detection system without shielding in terms of Minimal Detectable Activities are below 65 mBq for a 12 h acquisition, for all radioxenons of interest. An enhanced version of the prototype presented here is already under development: the Mobile Analyzer for Radioactive Gases OuTflows (MARGOT) system.

Keywords: Coincidence measurement technique; Pixellized silicon wafer; Radioxenon.