February 20, 2013
Gamma camera for measuring radiation intensity distribution in a high dose rate environment of 300mSv/h
Hitachi, Ltd. today announced the development of a gamma camera capable of measuring gamma-ray intensity distribution under a high dose rate environment of 300mSv/h with the support of the New Energy Development Organization (NEDO), Japan.
In July 2011, Hitachi together with Hitachi GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd. developed a gamma camera, for use in nuclear power plants under dose rate environments of less than 15mSv/h, that displayed the intensity of gamma-ray distribution for each nuclide through different colors. This gamma camera is being used for surveying inside the reactor building of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Power Plant. From February 2012, Hitachi participated in the NEDO project to develop a gamma camera that could be used under the higher environmental dose rates necessary to survey the entire area of the reactor building. In this development, Hitachi embedded a part of the signal processing function into the hardware as well as optimized the shield structure, to enable measurement under highly radioactive environments, and added a shield structure to increase accuracy, thus enabling measurement of gamma-ray intensity distribution under a high dose rate environment of 300mSv/h (20 times higher than previous levels).
