Sadly, today I heard in the news that EPZ's* request to allow use of MOX fuel in the 30 year old Borssele NPP was granted by Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (MinEZ). Publication here.
Radiation in Goes, Zeeland (NL) - Geiger Counter
Personal Geiger counter, radiation measurements in the city of Goes, The Netherlands. Note: I'm not using officially calibrated equipment, so don't draw any conclusions. Just use the graphs for comparing variations over time.
About this blog
So I got the urge to be able to detect and measure radiation by my own, especially since I live within a 15km radius from the NPP of Borssele and a 30km radius from the four reactors of Doel NPP, Belgium.
Browsing the internet, I found some relatively cheap ex-army radiation detectors at an army-dump shop. One of them appeared to be suitable to even detect the (usually low) background radiation levels: A Frieseke & Hoepfner FH40T Geiger counter (fitted with a FHZ76V energy-compensated geiger-mueller tube), sensitive to γ (gamma) radiation and β (beta) radiation over 0.25MeV.The FHZ76V tube actually contains a Valvo 18550 tube, which is equivalent to Centronics ZP1320, Mullard Mx164 and LND-713 (found in this Probe Selection Guide and here)
The specs of the ZP1320 tube claim a sensitivity of 9cps/mR/h for Cs-137 (540cpm/mR/h). For 'normal' background (0.025-0.045mR/h) this results in a counting rate of approx.10-20cpm.. Where I live, I measure values varying between 4cpm up to 25cpm. This variation is caused by the randomness of the decay of radioactive elements.
Note:
1 R = 8.77 mGy
1 Gy = 115 R
For sake of simplicity, in our calculations we simply use 1R = 10mGy and 1Gy= 100R. And so is 10µR = 0.1µSv.
This approximation is good enough for this experiment.
There are 3 types of radiation:
α (alpha) decay is helium nucli being released, (beta) decay is electrons (β-) or positrons (β+) and γ (gamma) decay is electromagnetic radiation (like X-rays).
This Geiger-Mueller tube is only sensitive to β and γ radiation. The calibration is only correct for the γ radiation (662keV) emitted from Cs-137 .
I am now on the lookout for a device that can detect alpha radiation too. But the current situation in Fukushima has stirred up the market (crazy prices, run out of stock) for detection devices so I better wait until better times.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Borssele NPP gets permit for MOX fuel
Sadly, today I heard in the news that EPZ's* request to allow use of MOX fuel in the 30 year old Borssele NPP was granted by Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (MinEZ). Publication here.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Disassembly and repair of FH40T geigercounter
To reach the components concerned, the circuit boards need to be removed from the FH40T's housing.
To make removal possible, several wires need to be unsoldered.
To document the situation, to be able to connect all wires after repair of the circuit, I took this series of pictures:
Thursday, May 26, 2011
2011-05-26 21h CEST - Measurement briefly interrupted by a malfunction in the FH40T
Tonight around 21h, the readings from the FH40T suddenly ceased. No more clicks were detected. After some initial testing, no immediate cause for this malfunction could be found, the FH40T detection electronics seemed dead but fortunately the G.M. tube was still OK.
After an interruption of about an hour, I was able to continue the measurements with a spare (D.I.Y) counter circuit that I had already built, using the same G.M. tube FHZ76V.
I''ll try to repair the FH40T in the near future, or otherwise I'll try to build new electronic circuit and integrate an LC-Display into the FH40T housing. Something which I already had planned to do, but hesitated to destroy a functional Radiation detector.
Radiation in Goes - Live graphs
Update 2011-05-26 22:19 CEST: Tonight around 21h, the readings from the FH40T suddenly ceased. No more clicks were detected. After some initial testing, no immediate cause for this malfunction could be found, the FH40T detection electronics seemed dead but the G.M. tube was still OK.
After an interruption of about an hour, I was able to continue the measurements with a spare (D.I.Y) counter circuit that I had already built, using the same G.M. tube FHZ76V.
SI8B CPM measurement |
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Tests with SI-8B / СИ8Б Pancake GM tube
(Update 2011-06-07 22:30 CEDST): more measurement results and photos added.
Ua=400V Ra=4.7MΩ
- Background radiation, indoor..
90-126cpm, average 105cpm (with or without aluminium Beta-shield on probe).
- Fertilizer (N-P-K), 100grams of granulars in a zip-bag laid on top of the probe:
with Beta-shield: 134-149cpm, average 141cpm.
without Beta-shield: 475-548cpm, average 505cpm.
- Am-241 Source from Smoke detector:
with Beta-shield: 7-12cps (420-720cpm).
without Beta-shield, just a piece of paper between Am-241 source and probe (blocking alpha): 13-25cps (780-1500cpm).
without any shielding: 150-450cps (9000-27000+ cpm).
- Wolfram-Thorium (red color band, 2% Thorium, 2.4mm thickness) Tungsten welding electrode:
A length (8cm) of WT20 electrode positioned across the SI-8B window:
sample1:
with Beta-shield: 253-280cpm, 268cpm average.
without Beta-shield: 521-543cpm, 530cpm average.
sample2:
with Beta-shield: 239-285cpm, 261cpm average.
without Beta-shield: 536-556cpm, 544cpm average.
Both lengths of WT20 electrode positioned side-by-side across the SI-8B window:
with Beta-shield: 356-427cpm, 389cpm average.
without Beta-shield: 941-983cpm, 963cpm average.
- 14C 60µC test source (Beta radiation, 0.156476MeV), in TTL6109a
"Strahlenspurgerat". Measured with the SI-8B held close to the mica window of the ionisation chamber, with the mode switch in the "R" position (so the 14C test source is exposed into TTL6109A's ionisation chamber).
with Beta-shield: 102-143cpm, 116cpm average
without Beta-shield: 3924-4360cpm, 4142cpm average
cpm = counts per minute
cps = counts per second
Photo's of experimental counter setup with SI8B, my HV inverter circuit and my Pulse-Counter / RS232- interface / LCD:
Test setup with SI8B, HV inverter and PIC pulse counter / LCD, powered by 4 NiMh coin cells |
Close-up of the SI-8B mounted on a Pringles can. |
Friday, May 20, 2011
Russian Pancake tube SI-8B / СИ8Б
It has a diameter of 8cm and is very sensitive:
A quick test showed a background radiation count between 3 and 10 CPS (counts per second), compared to between 3 and 10CPM with my FHZ76V tube !! This is a 60-fold higher count rate !!
I'll do some more tests and measurements soon.
ECV 6343 II652 I COUNTER SI8B LABEL Counter Beta radiation SI8B (hereinafter counter) is used to register the soft beta-radiation in radiometric devices. Climatic performance U3.I. Solo 15170 Date of manufacture OKT 1990 Circuits connecting the electrodes with the findings Designation Name of the output electrode I Free 3 Cathode 5 Free 7 Anode Basic electrical and radiometric parameters The slope of the plateau of the counting characteristics,%, not exceeding: 0,3 Sensitivity of the counting rate, imp.s-1.A-1.kg: 1.3 * 10E12 ... 1.9 * 10E12 Sensitivity of the counting rate (imp / uR): (350 ... 500) The slope of the voltage-current characteristics,%, not more: 1,25 Amplitude voltage pulse, V, no less than: 20 Own background, imp / s, max: 2 Effectiveness of registration of beta radiation,%: 50 ... 85 Current sensitivity, uA: 8 ... 15 (at P = 12.9 * 10E-10 A / kg (5 uR / s)) Operating range voltage, V: 360 ... 440 Maximum operating speed counting, pulses / s: 3400 Maximum operating current, mA: 18.2 The maximum permissible exposure dose of gamma radiation, A / kg: 21.5 * 10E-6 (for 1 min) The maximum permissible exposure dose of gamma radiation (R / h): (300) (for 1 min) Precious metals are not contained. The content of non-ferrous metals in a counter: Nickel - 3.6 grams per 4-pin. Acceptance Information Counter SI8B meets specifications 0D0.339.388 TU. TCI Stamp At re-manufactured _________ date OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS I. After you remove the meter from the package carefully remove the protective cover and visually check to make sure that the counter has no express mechanical defects (cracks of mica, chipped enamel). The counter can be taken only at the base. Is strictly forbidden to touch mica window. 2. The inclusion of the counter is made by feeding the anode voltage 390. 3. During operation of the counter values that determine the mode of operation, should not exceed the maximum allowable value. Doing so may lead to loss of counters performance.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Linux scripts for datalogging and graphing of the radiation measurements
It sends one line with the radiation value (in mR/h) measured during each sampling period (111.11s).
create.sh:
#!/bin/sh
# create.sh - create rrd for storing radiation measurement values (run once)
RRD=rad.rrd
rrdtool create $RRD \
--start 1301511639 --step 111 \
DS:mR-h:GAUGE:333:0:10000.0 \
RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:1:6000 \
RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:6:3000 \
RRA:AVERAGE:0.5:16:3000
sc.sh:
#!/bin/sh
# sc - simple serialport capture script
SERIAL=/dev/ttyS0
# run loop forever:
while true ; do
read a < $SERIAL
N="`date +%s`"
echo "rrdtool update rad.rrd $N:$a" >> data.log
rrdtool update rad.rrd $N:$a
echo $a >> geiger.log
sh graph.sh
done
graph.sh
#!/bin/sh
# graph.sh - generate graphs from rrd
# mR (milliRoentgen) to Roentgen: CDEF:value=mR,1000,/ \
# mR (milliRoentgen) to Sievert: CDEF:value=mR,100000,/ \
rrdtool graph radday.png -s -24h -e now \
-l 0 -r \
--alt-y-grid \
--units-length 5 \
--units-exponent -6 \
--width 800 --height 500 \
-t "Beta+Gamma Radiation last 24h - `date`" \
--vertical-label "Sievert/h -------->" \
--right-axis 100:0 \
--right-axis-label "R/h ------->" \
--color FONT#000000 -R light --font "DEFAULT:0:DejaVuSansMono" \
DEF:mR=rad.rrd:mR-h:AVERAGE \
CDEF:value=mR,100000,/ \
CDEF:smoothed=value,3333,TRENDNAN \
VDEF:rad5max=value,MAXIMUM \
VDEF:rad5min=value,MINIMUM \
VDEF:rad5avg=value,AVERAGE \
VDEF:slope=value,LSLSLOPE \
VDEF:int=value,LSLINT \
CDEF:trend=value,POP,slope,COUNT,*,int,+ \
AREA:smoothed#0000ff40: \
LINE1.5:smoothed#0000ff:" Radiation (avg) " \
LINE1:value#ff000080:" Radiation (raw) " \
LINE1:trend#000000:"--- trend\c":dashes \
VDEF:rad5las=value,LAST \
COMMENT:" " \
COMMENT:"Maximum " \
COMMENT:"Minimum " \
COMMENT:"Average " \
COMMENT:"Last \n" \
COMMENT:" " \
GPRINT:rad5max:"%6.2lf %SSv/h" \
GPRINT:rad5min:"%6.2lf %SSv/h" \
GPRINT:rad5avg:"%6.2lf %SSv/h" \
GPRINT:rad5las:"%6.2lf %SSv/h \l" \
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Very efficient HV inverter circuit for Geiger-Mueller Tubes
Trying to build a D.I.Y Geiger Counter, I have been experimenting with various circuits to generate the High Voltage that Geiger-Mueller Tubes require (most operate around 500V D.C) . There are many circuit diagrams out on the net. I've built several. One challenge is finding a proper coil (or transformer) that has the right properties to let the inverter function in the way the voltage boost is sufficient. Another challenge is stabilizing the high voltage and lastly have a low current consumption (for battery use). During my experiments, some circuits required more than 150mA @ 5V D.C this is definitely too much for battery use. Others were a lot more conservative, but could not generate sufficiently high voltage (just 450V D.C, just the low threshold of the G.M. tube I have, but I prefer operating the tube at the center of the plateau).
I didn't have good results with the diode-cascade type of voltage-doubling.
In the end, I had good result with a circuit, built with a CCFL (backlight) H.V. Transformer scrapped from a power-supply board of a (defective) Dell or BenQ TFT Monitor.
On this perticular PSU board, there are 4 of these Transformers (located on the left edge of the board):
4 CCFL transformers. |
On this board, there are also some very good Transistors 2SC5707, designed for switchmode circuits.
I used one of these as oscillator for my HV inverter circuit.
Here is the final circuit diagram of the H.V. Geiger-Meuller tubes (note: there is a small update, see below). The primary winding of the transformer is brought in resonance at its optimum efficiency point, around 55kHz
In my experimental setup, the circuit draws just a few milliamps out of a 5V supply, delivering 550V to a G.M. Tube FLZ76V. The complete D.I.Y Geiger Counter circuit, with PIC16F628A microcontroller and a 16x2 LCD screen draws 5mA from 5V D.C.
Your mileage may vary, depending on differences and tolerances of the components used.
HV inverter schematic v1.0 |
I've finally built a complete HV inverter unit on a piece of experiment board (PCB with holes on a 2.54mm grid).
I'll use it with the SI-8B pancake tube, so the HV output is adjusted to 400V (using 4 times 100V zeners in the regulation feedback line).
The unit (unloaded) draws just 250µA off a 5V supply. Loaded with a 4M7 resistor, the output is still 390V.
So far, this is the most efficient HV inverter i've built.
Here are some pictures of the completed HV inverter unit:
The HV output side. A 4M7 anode series resistor for the GM tube already mounted as well as a 2k2 kathode resistor (for pulse detection). |
Here is the updated circuit diagram of the further optimized HV inverter v1.1 with some minor changes in the feedback / regulation section resulting in better regulation and even less current consumption (<1mA @5V typical):
HV inverter schematic v1.1 |