Development of optical monitor of alpha radiations based on CR-39

•Fiber Optics Reflectance Sensor based on CR-39 was employed to monitor online low level alpha radiations emitted from 241Am.•Change in reflectance was found to be inversely related to roughness of the film.•The sensitivity of the detector far exceeds the sensitivity obtained by measuring the track density.•Experimentally measured track density matched with Monte Carlo GEANT4 simulation results.

Fukushima accident has highlighted the need to intensify efforts to develop sensitive detectors to monitor the release of alpha emitting radionuclides in the environment caused by the meltdown of the discharged spent fuel. Conventionally, proportional counting, scintillation counting and alpha spectrometry are employed to assay the alpha emitting radionuclides but these techniques are difficult to be configured for online operations. Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTDs) offer an alternative off line sensitive technique to measure alpha emitters as well as fissile radionuclides at ultra-trace level in the environment.Recently, our group has reported the first ever attempt to use reflectance based fiber optic sensor (FOS) to quantify the alpha radiations emitted from 232Th. In the present work, an effort has been made to develop an online FOS to monitor alpha radiations emitted from 241Am source employing CR-39 as detector. Here, we report the optical response of CR-39 (on exposure to alpha radiations) employing techniques such as Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Reflectance Spectroscopy.In the present work GEANT4 simulation of transport of alpha particles in the detector has also been carried out. Simulation includes validation test wherein the projected ranges of alpha particles in the air, polystyrene and CR-39 were calculated and were found to agree with the literature values. An attempt has been further made to compute the fluence as a function of the incidence angle and incidence energy of alphas. There was an excellent correlation in experimentally observed track density with the simulated fluence. The present work offers a novel approach to design an online CR-39 based fiber optic sensor (CRFOS) to measure the release of nanogram quantity of 241Am in the environment.