UNCLASSIFIED
Real-Time Continuous Air
Monitoring of Pu-239 Around a
Manhattan Project-Era Nuclear
Waste Site
2009 AMUG Presentation
Bill Eisele, LANL
Orval Hart, LANL
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Operated by the Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the DOE/NNSA
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Topics for Discussion
• MDA B Description
• Bladewerx SabreECAM (Environmental Continuous Air
Monitor) purpose/description/capabilities
• ECAM field logistics
• ECAM software/communications protocol
• Data Acquisition & Web Display Software Screen Shots
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Slide 1
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Manhattan-Era Nuclear Waste Site – MDA B
• From 1944 until it closed in 1948, MDA B received contaminated
materials from the earliest Laboratory operations and contains both
hazardous chemical and radioactive waste.
• The waste disposal units at MDA B consist of shallow pits and/or
trenches.
• The overall length of the MDA B waste disposal areas is
approximately 594 m (1,950 ft) and an overall width that ranges
between 22 m (75 ft) and 91 m (300 ft).
• Estimated inventory of 200 g of Pu-239 in contaminated waste and
soil.
• No disposal records, so we don’t really know what’s in there.
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Slide 2
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MDA B Remediation
• Starting next January, project will start excavating
trenches and pits and; sorting, characterizing and
packaging waste.
• This work will be conducted inside fabric dome
enclosures with HEPA filtration.
• Public receptors only 20 meters away from domes.
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Slide 3
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MDA B Site Layout
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Slide 4
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MDA B ECAM Project Purpose
• Remotely monitor in real time, environmental
concentrations of Pu-239 in the ambient air around MDA
B during operations – “fence-line.”
– Situational awareness for operations.
– Public communications and outreach.
• Not intended for emergency response at this time.
– Would need to upgrade procurement QA to next level.
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Slide 5
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Bladewerx SabreECAM
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Slide 6
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Bladewerx SabreECAM Description
• Lightweight, battery-powered, alpha air monitor
• Detector: Solid-state silicon (450 mm² active area)
• Pump: Battery-operated diaphragm-type, 6.0 LPM (can
be operated off higher flow-rate auxiliary pump)
• SpeclonTM Filter: 37 mm diameter 1.5 μm pore PTFE
material
• MCA: 256 channel spectrum
• Peak shape fitting algorithm to minimize Rn progeny
interference
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Slide 7
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Peak Shape Fitting
• “Alpha peak shape fitting is used to separate the
spectrum into the contributions from its constituent
nuclides and quantify the spectrum counts from radon
decay products and Pu-239.” – excerpted from Bladewerx literature
• Alpha peak shape fitting is a technique that fits the sum of
multiple alpha isotope peak shapes to create a composite
curve which best fits the actual spectrum counts. – adapted
from Bladewerx literature
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Slide 8
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Radionuclides Detected
Three short-lived Rn progeny and one isotope of interest:
• Po-212 @ 8.78 MeV (channel 248)
• Po-214 @ 7.69 MeV (channel 210)
• Po-218 @ 6.1 MeV (channel 155)
• Pu-239 @ about 5.1 MeV (channel 110)
– Pre-selected
– Other isotopes of interest may be selected, e.g., Pu-238, Am-241
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Slide 9
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Typical Spectrum
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Slide 10
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SabreECAM Capability
• DAC (concentration), DAC-Hr (dose), and spectrum
logging
• Typical sensitivity of 0.5 DAC-Hr (Chronic – 240 min
window) and 50 DAC-Hr (Acute – 120 sec window) with
less than one false alarm per 2000 hours of operation
• Embedded PC with Windows CE operating system
• Cell phone modem communications to host computer
modem
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Slide 11
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SabreECAM Field Logistics
• Located inside AIRNET stations (environmental air
sampling stations)
• Filter change-out frequency – biweekly with AIRNET
filters
• Calibration and maintenance needs – 6 month rad and
pump calibrations
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Slide 12
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SabreECAM Placement inside AIRNET Station
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Slide 13
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Progress To Date
• Considerable testing and debugging of software.
• Aerosol penetration tests by Murray Moore complete – resulted in a
slight modification to ECAM head by Bladewerx.
• Type-testing by Murray Moore IAW ANSI N42.17B almost complete.
• Approved energy, efficiency, flow rate calibration procedure
developed in-house.
• New communications protocol developed in-house and coded by
vendor to result in faster alarm response time and more remote
interaction capabilities.
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Slide 14
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Radioactive Aerosol Particle Size Distributions
- from Dorrian and Bailey, J. Aerosol Sci., 1996
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Slide 15
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SabreECAM Aerosol Test by Murray Moore –
Preliminary Results
• SabreECAM aerosol collection efficiency for a SpeclonTM
1.5 micron filter:
– optical diameter range between 1 and 10 microns
– without modification (clamps on filter holder), filter collection
efficiency from 88% to 98% (Vface of 0.24 m/s)
– With modification, filter collection efficiency from 82% to 100%
(Vface of 0.21 m/s)
• Using a HI-Q threaded screw-type filter holder:
– for SpeclonTM 1.5 micron filter and same aerosol size range
– filter collection efficiency from 99% to 100% (Vface of 0.17 m/s)
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Slide 16
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Type Test IAW ANSI N42.17B by Murray Moore
• SabreECAM passed all applicable, available tests.
• Did not test for interference from radiofrequency
emissions, microwaves, electrostatic fields, and magnetic
fields because of lack of test facilities.
• Also did not test for varying ambient pressure and power
supply frequency effects on flow rate.
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Slide 17
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SabreECAM Software/Communications Protocol
• Uses standard RS-232 serial communication for remote
communication via modems for routine data capture.
• Uses MS PDA active-sync communication technology via
USB port for local display and administration tasks during
filter changes, etc., in field.
• Data acquisition software on host computer developed by
Orval Hart with VB 2008.
• Dynamic web display software developed by Orval Hart
with ASP.NET
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Slide 18
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SabreECAM Software/Communications Protocol
Diagram
Cell Phone Communications
Operations
Center
Data Acquisition Computer
LANL
Paging
System
Lab
Ethernet
Backbone
Data Base Server
Personal Pager
Alpha Monitors
Web Server
Off-site Personnel
Figure 1 – Data Acquisition Network
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Slide 19
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Applicability of Technology
• SabreECAMs could be sited around any remediation
project, not just MDA B
• Plutonium operational facilities: TA-55-4, CMR, CMRR,
Area G
• LANL Operational Health Physics group wants to
interface SabreAlert 2 units with data acquisition software
and web display for emergency response field sampling
team use.
• Emergency response potential
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Slide 20
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Data Acquisition & Web Display
Software
Screen Shots
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Data Acquisition Software Screen Display
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Slide 22
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CAMNet Web Display – Map Select Option
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Slide 23
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CAMNet Web Display – Home Page
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Slide 24
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CAMNet Web Display – “Public” View
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Slide 25
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CAMNet Web Display – Tabular Data Display
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Slide 26
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CAMNet Web Display – Concentration Plot
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Slide 27
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CAMNet Web Display – Dose Plot
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Slide 28
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CAMNet Web Display – Smoothed Counts Spectrum
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Slide 29
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CAMNet Web Display – Spectrum Summing (10)
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Slide 30
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CAMNet Web Display – Spectrum Summing (50)
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Slide 31
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CAMNet Web Display – Spectrum Summing (100)
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Slide 32
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CAMNet Web Display – Curve Fit Peak Counts Plotted
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Slide 33
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Check Log Display
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Slide 34
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Hi-Q Threaded Filter Holder Results
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Slide 36
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Hi-Q Threaded Filter Holder Results
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Slide 37
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SabreECAM Filter Efficiency Results – 1.5 micron
Speclon filter
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Slide 38
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SabreECAM Filter Efficiency Results – 1.5 micron
Speclon filter
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Slide 39