BRAWM Team doing alpha monitoring?
I'm guessing that the measurements you're taking so far are being done with a HPGe gamma scintillator (any pics of the rig to share?).
Given the recent stir about hot particles, it would be interesting to get some samples and do some alpha spectroscopy on them to see what (if anything) interesting has arrived from Japan.
HPGe setups, and info on alpha spec
Yes, we are using HPGe detectors for our measurements. We have a picture of our rainwater setup:
And our air filter setup:
We have not been focusing much on alpha spectroscopy because our setup is not very sensitive. Mostly this is because the spectral response of the alpha particles emerging from the air filter is complicated and requires a lot of analysis. We are still taking data of an air filter from mid-April, and we are trying to at least get a limit or some result from it.
As for the hot particles issue, we are currently thinking of how to analyze our air filter samples using other means. Our filters should have collected thousands of such particles per day in our filters, and we are trying to figure out who to work with and what to do in order to investigate hot particles in more detail.
Mark [BRAWM Team Member]
Mark- Thanks for the
Mark-
Thanks for the pics!
EPA has done alpha analysis, right? And I believe that it was mentioned previously that while you guys are not really set up for Pu and U, Americium would show up in your set-up. That's what really bugs me - there's one guy out there, Kaltofen (who appears to be very credentialed), who says he is finding this stuff and NO ONE ELSE. From what I understand he is using a somewhat different technique, but again, I would expect that BRAWM/EPA would be seeing Americium if it was out there...
Thank You!
Thank you Mark and BRAWM Team for your diligence! It is so much appreciated.