Development of a Hand Held Gamma Ray Detector for Radioactive Materials Detection

In this progam, Princeton Electronic Systems, Inc will develop a small, lightweight hand held gamma radiation detection and isotope identification system. The system will be intended for detection of clandestine movement of nuclear materials from nuclear facilities or storage areas and other places. The system will be easy to use and will display the radio nuclides whose radiation is detected by the system. To build such a system we will use semiconductor detectors like H912 or CdTe with the associated electronics for multi channel analysis. The electronics will be reduced in size by use of Multi Chip Module(MCM) or flex circuits and by using application specific ICs wherever suitable. A software will be developed to automatically identify the nuclides and display them on a small display. In the first phase of the program, the evaluafion of the detectors and the means for size reduction of the electronics will be done. After that the software requirement will be defined in detail and the design of the full system will be made during phase 1. Such a system will be used in many DOD programs as well by IAEA inspectors monitoring safeguards and for environmental applicafions. The prototype system will be built in phase H which will be tumed into a commercially available product and produced during Phase III. Anticipated Benefits: The prototype developed during Phase II of the program will be a product which will find many different applications. The most important high volume application will be for environmental applications, for monitoring radioactive contamination. The other applications will be for DOD, DOE and IAEA monitoring of nuclear safeguards. The product will have a high volume commerical market. A multi million dollars sales for this product is expected in near future.