High Rate Segmented Germanium Detector System (HRGe)

The DOE NNSA Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation missions include monitoring, assaying, and identifying Special Nuclear Materials (SNM). Facilities commonly contain large quantities of additional radioactive materials causing high-background count rates that obscure the important SNM measurements using ordinary spectroscopic radiation detectors.This program seeks to develop a portable segmented germanium detector system capable of withstanding two orders of magnitude higher counting rate than any other germanium-detector system while maintaining high sensitivity for SNM measurements. The technical approach utilizes the existing company technologies to create prototypes during the Phase II. The prototype demonstrations will pave the way to commercial success of the manufactured HRGe product. The Phase I program experimentally demonstrated an order of magnitude increase in the count rate capacity of the former electronic-readout system to create the new HRGe electronic readout and software system. Phase I saw the overall detector-system gamma-ray count-rate capacity improved from 70 kcps to 850 kcps, making the system more than 10 times more capable in high rate environments and offering a previously unheard of combination of sensitivity and count-rate capacity. Phase II will concentrate on the fabrication and evaluation of prototype HRGe detector systems. These prototypes will be more compact, more lightweight, and more power-efficient than any others having such high count rate capacity. The overall HRGe detector system count-rate capacity is projected to be several million counts per second, making HRGe the highest count rate germanium detector system with the largest sensitivity of any system ever made. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits The capabilities of the new HRGe will be valuable for commercial nuclear power applications, nuclear-fuel holdup measurements, environmental monitoring, nuclear weapons non-proliferation, treaty verification, nuclear-explosion monitoring, nuclear physics and nuclear medicine