DIAL–phoswich hybrid system for remote sensing of radioactive plumes in order to evaluate external dose rate

Radioactive pollutants which are released into the atmosphere are known to present a hazard to human health; therefore they must be identified and well protected. Here, an improved remote sensing system is investigated for monitoring radioactive plumes released into the atmosphere from nuclear sites. It is based on the combination of DIAL technique with a phoswich detector array. The DIAL, using a tunable UV/Vis laser, measures the concentration of the radionuclide and the plume distance, whereas the phoswich detects characteristic hard X/γ ray emissions. Here, we have shown the ability of a hybrid system for the prompt identification and quantification of the effluents containing the uranium radionuclide, using the parameters of uranium such as absorption cross-section, absorption spectrum and density.