Violinist: Sophisticated Pu Field Monitor

A new, smart, portable multichannel analyzer-based plutonium field monitor has been developed that will significantly improve field monitoring capability by accident response teams. Called the Violinist, the system uses the ever-popular thin NaI(Tl) detector developed1 some years ago. The electronics weigh 1.7 lb and fit inside a package 7"×5"×l-3/4" deep. The device has: 256 channel MCA; microcomputer control; 32×84 dot matrix LCD alphanumeric and spectral display; three independent cursor sets for region of interest definition; keyboard-entered constants (3); computation algorithms; and internal battery power (15 hr lifetime). The package has wide radiation monitoring applications.