title: Improvement of the measuring equipment used in the assessment of internal doses in emergency situations.
abstract: Emergency response plans have long been focused on accidents at nuclear power plants. Recently, the malevolent use of radiation aimed at creating disruption in the society has been considered as a possible threat. In this kind of emergency situations casualties will most likely be members of the public and the number of affected people can vary from a few to mass casualties. There is an evident need for rapid measurements of large groups of internally contaminated people. Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) in Finland has obtained new monitors for thyroid and simple whole-body measurements in field conditions as a part of the continuous improving of emergency preparedness. The new monitors consist of a NaI(Tl) detector and a control unit. The monitors work as spectrometers allowing real-time spectrum analysis in the field.
authors.affiliation: STUK--Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, PO Box 14, 00881 Helsinki, Finland. maarit.muikku@stuk.fi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muikku
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rahola
mesh_terms: D001822:Body Burden; D004630:Emergencies; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014915:Whole-Body Counting / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes