Multifunctional handheld gamma radiation spectrometers and their application in various radiation monitoring tasks

Multifunctional handheld gamma radiation spectrometers developed in ATOMTEX SPE are presented in the paper. Their main application is measurement and processing of gamma radiation spectra, searching, localization and identification of natural, industrial, medical radionuclide sources and nuclear materials, definition of radionuclide activity without sampling selection, and the measurement of gamma radiation ambient dose rate, measurement of flux density of alpha, beta and neutron radiation with the possibility of site location. Spectrometers have an intuitive user interface, can store up to 300 spectra and have the possibility to connect to a personal computer to work with it as a spectrometer and to transmit measured spectra and further their processing with the help of developed software. The spectrometers' set-up is as follows: a processing unit or computer and external detection units of gamma, alpha and beta radiation. Spectrometers can be modified for use, for example, in environment monitoring, radioactive waste control, radioactive and nuclear materials trafficking control, geological exploration, scientific research, surreptitious scanning of rooms and territories, and search of nuclear terrorists. (author)