REMOTE RADIATION MONITOR WITH DOOR LOCKING FOR SAFE CYCLOTRON OPERATION

Abstract

The Remote Radiation Monitor is a portable area radiation monitor designed at Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear. It embodies a Geiger-Müller tube and a magnetic lock driver such that, when installed in a radioactive area, access to that area is prevented by automatically locking its door whenever the measured gamma radiation level exceeds a predefined limit ranging from 1 µSv/h up to 10 mSv/h. The monitor also incorporates an Ethernet port to support reading the last radiation measurement by a remote electronic device such as a personal computer. It was designed to comply with recent governmental regulations regarding personnel safety during operation of CV-28, a multi-particle cyclotron located at the Institute. A prototype of the monitor has been implemented at the Institute and submitted to long-term tests that validated its design, robustness and reliability.