Identification of depth location of a radiation source by measurement from only one direction using a Compton camera

コンプトンカメラを用いた一方向のみからの測定による放射線源の奥行き方向の位置特定

佐藤 優樹  

Sato, Yuki

In the decommissioning work environment of a nuclear power plant, it is essential to accurately identify the location of radiation sources to reduce worker doses and develop decontamination plans. In this regard, gamma-ray imagers are promising devices in the visualization of the location of radiation sources. However, they can only estimate the direction in which the radiation source is located and not the distance to the source. A previous study has reported a method to identify the three-dimensional coordinates of the radiation source by measuring from multiple viewpoints with a gamma-ray imager. In some cases, the many pieces of object located at the actual decommissioning site limit the accessible area, making it difficult to measure the target area from multiple viewpoints. Thus, the present study devised and demonstrated a method of estimating the distance to the radiation source by measuring from only one direction using a Compton camera, a type of gamma-ray imager. The proposed method considered the reconstructed image intensity to be proportional to the inverse square of the distance to radiation source. This approach will be useful in accurately locating radiation sources in environments with limited workable areas, such as the broken reactor buildings inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.