UKAEA Beach Monitoring
UKAEA Beach Monitoring
September 2005, Ongoing
Shonka Research Associates, Inc. (SRA) along with five other competitors was selected for testing of its detection system capable of detecting fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel, termed "Dounreay Particles". These particles are known to have been inadvertently released into the environment during fuel reprocessing activities in the 1960s and 1970s.
On September 21st and 22nd 2005 the SRA detection system was tested by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's (UKAEA’s) Beach Monitoring Steering group. A simulated beach was constructed at the UKAEA site at Harwell in Oxfordshire, with radioactive sources buried in the sand.
Depending on the level of performance demonstrated at these trials, it is to be expected that some participants will again be invited to tender for a possible program of radiation monitoring of several beaches in Caithness. The precise requirements of the future program are subject to agreement with Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and other key stakeholders.
Another of SRA’s unique features is our ability to perform “post-processing” using noise adjusted single value decomposition (NASVD) in near real time. During the test, it was performed following each strip. We believe that it would be adequate to permit analysis of strips of data hundreds of meters long, permitting review of and reaction to any findings in the field.
Update: In August 2006 SRA was selected to tender for the beach monitoring contract when it comes up for renewal in 2007.
