Adaptable radiation monitoring system and method

A method of monitoring an area for moving radioactive materials comprising the steps of:

• providing a portable radiation detector coupled to a multi-channel analyzer and having configurable radiation shielding which limits radiation detection to the monitoring area;
• using the portable radiation detector and the multi-channel analyzer to collect spectral data in very small time bins of less than about 150 msec to enable detection of radioactive sources moving at high speeds;
• analyzing the spectral data to determine triggering events from the spectral data;
• upon a determination of a triggering event, determining the direction of the moving radioactive source based on the spectral data and the relative spatial arrangement between the radiation shielding and the radiation detector, and transmitting the spectral data associated with the triggering event to a central data reporting system.

A method in a computer system for monitoring an area for moving radioactive sources, said method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

• controlling a multi-channel analyzer coupled to a radiation detector to collect spectral data in very small time bins of less than about 150 msec. for detecting radioactive sources moving at high speeds with detection windows of less than about 1 second, said radiation detector having configurable radiation shielding which limits radiation detection to the monitoring area;
• controlling a first computer processor module to determine the occurrence of triggering events from the spectral data;
• controlling a second computer processor module to determine the direction of the moving radioactive source based on the spectral data and the relative spatial arrangement between the radiation shielding and the radiation detector;
• and
• controlling a data storage device operably connected to the first computer processor to store the spectral data and any triggering events for post-collection analysis.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer-readable program code means embodied therein for causing a gamma-radiation detection system to monitor for gamma-radiation sources moving at high speeds, said radiation detector having configurable radiation shielding which limits radiation detection to the monitoring area, the computer-readable program code means in said article of manufticture comprising:
• computer-readable program code means for causing the control of a multi-channel analyzer coupled to a radiation detector to collect spectral data in very small time bins of less than about 150 msec. for detecting radioactive sources moving at high speeds;
• computer-readable program code means for causing the control of a first computer processor module to determine the occurrence of triggering events from the spectral data;
• computer-readable program code means for causing the control of a second computer processor module to determine the direction of the moving radioactive source based on the spectral data and the relative spatial arrangement between the radiation shielding and the radiation detector;
• and
• computer-readable program code means for causing the control of a data storage device operably connected to the first computer processor to store the spectral data and triggering events for post-collection analysis.