Article
On the optimisation of the use of 3 He in radiation portal monitors
RadiationPortalMonitors(RPMs)areusedtodetectillicittraffickingofnuclearorotherradioactive materialconcealedinvehicles,cargocontainersorpeopleatstrategiccheckpoints,suchasborders, seaportsandairports.Mostofthemincludeneutrondetectorsfortheinterceptionofpotential plutoniumsmuggling. The mostcommontechnologyusedforneutrondetectioninRPMsisbasedon 3He proportional counters.Therecentsevereshortageofthisrareandexpensivegashascreatedaproblemofcapacity for manufacturerstoprovideenoughdetectorstosatisfythemarketdemand. In thispaperweanalysethedesignoftypicalcommercialRPMsandtrytooptimisethedetector parametersinordereithertomaximisetheefficiencyusingthesameamountof 3He orminimisethe amountofgasneededtoreachthesamedetectionperformance:byreducingthevolumeorgas pressureinanoptimiseddesign.