Stack Air Effluent Monitor: present and future

IGNACIO SCARINCI; FEDERICO FERNANDEZ BALDIS; ROMAN PINO; MARIANA DI TADA; EDUARDO NASSIF

Bariloche

Workshop; Workshop on the Signatures of Man-made Isotope Production (WOSMIP VI); 2016

CTBTO - PNNL- INVAP

For the past 25 years, INVAP has developed air effluent monitors (AEM) for nuclear facilities stacks. Detection units have three different channels: iodine, aerosols, and noble gases (NG). The last one is the most important from the point of view of CTBT, due to its contribution to accurate determination of radioxenon emissions at the source. INVAP has developed an AEM combining NaI scintillator with state-of-the-art CdTe semiconductor detectors, both with digital electronic chains. Advantage has been taken from CdTe to improve the system to cover a wide NG activity measuring range. The mechanical design includes optimized NG chambers and modular shielding for each detector, resulting in a versatile equipment to be used in Radioisotope Production Plants and Research Reactors. A next generation of AEMs is being designed with HPGe detectors to obtain better energy resolution and to improve accuracy in the facility activity reports, matching the design challenge to strong requirements imposed by Radioisotope Production Plants emission regimes.We present the design status of the AEM equipment optimized for the Radioisotope Plants being developed by INVAP. Experiments and simulations with the NaI and CdTe detectors will be shown. Also, an introduction to the next generation of AEM will be given.