Integrated nuclear radiation detector and monitor

An integrated nuclear radiation detector and monitor comprising in combination:

• means constituting an ionization chamber (C) including walls defining said chamber;
• an electrode (24) positioned inside said chamber and electrically insulated from said chamber;
• means for maintaining a potential (V.sub.CH) between said electrode and said chamber so that the current flowing from said electrode is equal to the saturation current of said ionization chamber for any given level of radiation;
• an electrical circuit including a source of potential (33);
• means interposed in the electrical circuit between said source of potential (33) and said electrode (24) providing a high resistance between said source of potential (33) and said electrode (24);
• means producing an adjustable reference potential (V.sub.ref);
• a comparator (38) one terminal of which is connected to said reference potential (V.sub.ref) and another terminal of which is connected to said electrode (24) for comparing the reference voltage with the voltage at said electrode, thereby producing an output signal;
• a solid state invertor (40) electrically connected to the output side of said comparator to receive said output signal;
• and
• an alarm electrically connected to said solid state invertor and actuated by said output signal.