Primary Internal Gas Counting at NRC
Radioactive noble gases are emitted from nuclear reactors when electricity is produced, accidents occur and as the result of nuclear weapons use, and hence are of great interest to the nuclear forensics communities. In addition, some radioactive noble gases serve critical medical functions, as is the case of Xe-133 in the diagnostic imaging for certain lung cancers. The accepted method by which radioactive noble gases have been standardized in terms of primary activity concentration is through the use of a length-compensated proportional counter (LCPC). The National Research Council (NRC) of Canada is developing a new primary method for radioactive noble gas counting using an LCPC. The principle of length compensation and the effects of high voltage, detector material and gas pressure are presented. An overview of the NRC LCPC design and the system performance with Xe-133 will conclude the talk.
Bio
James Renaud received his PhD from McGill University, working on the development of absorbed dose calorimeters for absolute clinical dosimetry. He began his career at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada in 2019 as a postdoc focused on improving the accuracy of EPID-based dosimetry. Currently a Research Officer with the Ionizing Radiation Standards group, he's now involved in non-standard radiotherapy dosimetry research (e.g. FLASH-RT, proton therapy), as well as primary methods for radioactive noble gas counting.