Development of an environmental monitoring station for HPGe detectors

Abstract

Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) is a well-established nondestructive analytic technique where the gamma radiation emitted by an irradiated sample is analyzed using an HPGe detector. The Neutron Activation Laboratory (LAN) of IPEN-CNEN/SP has been performing NAA analyses for over 30 years, and has plans of implementing quality control protocols to their analyses. In this sense, the environmental monitoring of the laboratories where the detectors are used has been performed for many years, in a manual way with no more than 2 measurements per day. In this work, an automated monitoring station based on a microcontroller ArduinoUNO board has been developed which comprises four thermo hygrometer sensors for monitoring different parts of the environment, plus a thermocouple for monitoring the inside of the liquid nitrogen dewar. The results obtained allow for a discussion on the performance and adequacy of the sensors.