Thermo Fisher Scientific: real-time monitoring of radiation threats

Thermo Fisher Scientific: real-time monitoring of radiation threats. Dorset Police was charged with ensuring security at the 2007 UK Labour Party Annual Conference, which took place in Bournemouth, Dorset in September 2007. With more than 12,000 delegates, members of the media and exhibitors attending the conference, this comprehensive £5.3 million security operation was the largest ever staged by Dorset Police. Apart from catering for security at the conference, the wide-ranging security operation was also aimed at minimising disruption to the rest of the town.

Operation Pegasus

The objectives of Dorset Police during the Labour Party Conference were to ensure that people visiting the conference would be alert, vigilant and calm but not alarmed. More than 400 police officers worked to ensure the safety of conference visitors and members of the public together with 140 civilian police staff and more than 150 civilian security staff from a private company.

By the time the conference started, the Bournemouth International Centre and the Highcliff Hotel had been searched and sealed off with everyone entering being searched and only allowed in with a security pass. The conference security operation used more than 170 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras as well as high-tech automated number plate recognition (ANPR) computer technology.

A lot of professional planning was carried out throughout the year preceding the conference in order to put measures in place to combat threats and produce contingency plans. A whole range of specialisms were used including accreditation, CID, firearms, anti-terrorism, public order, search, automatic number plate recognition, transport, equipment, communications, CCTV, air support and information systems. In implementing the security operation, Dorset Police worked closely with reliable partners including Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Dorset Police Requirements

Dorset Police required a dependable system that could provide precise radiological detection in real time at various locations throughout the venue and surrounding areas. Live Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) information was required to be collated and transferred to the command and control centre to enable critical decisions to be made in real time.

The main objective was to ensure that an early warning would be issued in the case of a change in the radiological signature of a secure area. The system should not create any false positives nor interfere in any way with either the throughput of delegates or the security operation itself.

The Dorset Police commissioned the installation and setup of the system the day before the event. The planning phase began five months prior to the conference. This was a particularly short notice given the vast extent of the implementation.

System Set-up

Detection capabilities for radiation and particulate monitoring were employed. The Thermo ViewPoint Enterprise system provided the ability to centrally process and analyse instrument/detector information, acting as a command and control centre. The system comprised four components: the appliance featuring a data engine, user workstations or viewing ‘clients’, instrument (input) device plug-ins and client plug-ins.

The data engine receives information from the system inputs – a complete set of detection appliances that were installed at strategic locations within the conference site – and routes the input to the command centre, which employed multiple workstation PCs for display, job coverage or database logging.

The detection appliances were also used to equip a survey vehicle that was implemented to provide wide area radiological background trending. Sensitive detectors were used, featuring the inherent capability to clearly distinguish between naturally occurring radiation and radioactivity that is artificial and could pose a serious threat. Handheld instruments were also deployed to identify threats following detection. A communication network was put in place to allow real time transmission of data recorded by the detection appliances to both the Dorset Police Winfrith Headquarters (HQ) and Thermo Scientific Remote Vehicle Search Site (RVSS) via the ViewPoint system.

The system produced real time dose readings along with GPS data that allowed Police Officers and Thermo Fisher Scientific personnel to specify the exact location of the event. The transmissions were two-way ensuring that the detectors could be interrogated, reconfigured or reset if necessary. A pedestrian entry/exit was located in a temporary building and was used as a gateway to the conference site.

A Thermo Scientific TPM 903B (Transportable Portable Monitor) was employed to ensure that nobody carrying potentially threatening radioactive materials would enter the site. The TPM was able to cover an energy range of between 60 keV and 2 MeV. It was strategically situated next to a metal detector and x-ray search machines that were scanning delegates entering the site.

Only Police staff were allowed to pass through the TPM. In the course of the conference, approximately 4,000 scans were registered. At the RVSS, delivery vehicles would arrive and unload their merchandise in order for it to be checked. Provided that goods were found to be ‘clean’, they were loaded into an authorised vehicle and delivered to the venue.

Twice a day, Thermo Fisher Scientific personnel drove the survey vehicle following a predetermined route established by the Dorset Police. The vehicle was mounted with Matrix gamma NBR and FHT641 neutron probes, an ADR air concentrator detector, an Interceptor GiD Spectroscopy Personal Radiation Detector (SPRD) and a RadEye PRD.

The purpose of these daily tours was to identify any rises in background radiation compared to the previously plotted baseline profile.

Findings

The sensitivity of the TPM was decreased and set to a level so that the alarm would only set off in cases that the source was unshielded. The aim was to avoid false alarm activations that could be triggered primarily by the x-ray generator located next to the transportable portable monitor. Performance and calibration of all detectors was checked using a 137Cs button source of <1uCi.

Reachback was achieved at both the RVSS and the Police HQ. A graph model registering the background count was used to help spot any activation of the TPM. Such an event would appear as a sharp rise in the graph. Measurement data were constantly updated and available to view remotely via the Viewpoint client desktop. The TPM remained stable during the conference with no alarms. On the final day, a confidence check was performed by passing the 137Cs source through the TPM which produced a positive result.

The graphs were continually monitored at the RVSS without any alarms being activated. With regards to the mobile surveys, there were some alarming events recorded which were proven non-hazardous.

Benefits Achieved

Overall, this pioneering implementation offered numerous benefits and can be considered as a leap forward in radiation monitoring. Operating with Windows NT/2000/ XP, the Thermo ViewPoint Enterprise system was very easy to use and provided sophisticated, real-time people and environment graphing/ trending. As this is achieved in normal and outage operations, the system is suitable for a wide range of applications including the nuclear power industry and industrial, civil defence and security applications.

The open-system architecture of the ViewPoint enabled phased implementation by incrementally adding instruments and sensors. Further significant attributes of the system include historical data retention ability, system self-diagnostic capabilities and a self-contained server, with preinstalled software and built-in firewall. The lightweight and simple construction of the TPM 903B enabled quick and easy set-up within seconds. The monitor provided early warning of hot spots, e.g. on protective clothing.

Highly sensitive, the appliance was able to produce uniform responses to gamma radiation. The monitor’s design features were suitable for monitoring walkers or wheelchairs while they could be adjusted to also accommodate vehicles. Users were first detected by the occupancy sensor of the TPM 903B, which switched the detectors from updating the background into scan mode. The alarm was given if the counts exceeded a predetermined level, if not, the green “ready/clear” light remained on. The passage time was only one second.

Combining the qualities of a Personal Radiation Detector (PRD) with isotope identifier capabilities (RIID), the Interceptor SPRD offered significant benefits over similar detectors available on the market. The unit achieved superior gamma and neutron sensitivity while its increased identification accuracy allowed for fast elimination of nuisance alarms. The RadEye PRD is 5,000–10,000 times more sensitive than a typical electronic dosimeter. It is the only instrument of its type and size to achieve this, owing to a special technique based on the Thermo Fisher Scientific patented NBR technology.

The special proprietary circuitry of the appliance allowed energy compensated dose and dose rate measurements up to 100 mSv/h (or 10 rem/h). Charlie Eggar, Superintendent of the Dorset Police force and Commander Silver for the security at the Labour Party Conference, explains: “The system was easy to use and provided a high degree of confidence to the CBRN Silver. The Thermo Fisher Scientific team fitted in very well with the CBRN operation and had the expertise to keep the systems working reliably. They also had the reach back capability to assist with the speedy identification of any alarm activations. This was demonstrated when alarms were set off by low level sources used in press cameras that caused an alarm to activate when a large number of cameras were grouped together.”

This trial has been a worthwhile project demonstrating the application of the system for real time personnel dosimetry and data management, area monitoring, integrated remote monitoring, instrument management, first responder environmental monitoring and site process monitoring.

Contact:

Nicole Kelly
Thermo Fisher Scientific,
Oakwood Village, Ohio, USA
Tel.: +1 770 521 4500
sales@thermoviewpoint.com
www.thermo.com/solutions