Evaluation of measurement devices for radioactive and nuclear material

Fraunhofer INT has a profound long lasting experience in the assessment of measurement devices for the detection of nuclear and radioactive material. This includes searching and identifying radioactive and nuclear material with hand-held and portable gamma and neutron measuring devices including electrically cooled germanium detectors. The latter were for example investigated concerning the outcome of the implemented analysis routines and the obtained spectra which were examined using different further analysis tools. Due to this long-lasting experience some researchers of the working group have been invited to participate as experts in the Illicit Trafficking Radiation Assessment Program (ITRAP+10). ITRAP+10 is a program initiated by the European Union and the United States to evaluate the performance of available commercial radiation detection equipment against consensus standards. The ITRAP+10 effort accentuated the need to have accredited testing laboratories in the EU to perform testing against the consensus standards in order to have reproducible test results, independent of testing location. Therefore the next step is to enable laboratories to work as such testing locations. Initiated by the EU, this is carried out in ITRAP+10 Phase II in work package 2. Fraunhofer INT has conceived and built a test environment to perform the corresponding dynamic and static test measurements using neutron and gamma sources. The development of the testing facility is part of the present paper. This testing facility can be used to qualify new devices as well as to test already deployed ones. Therefor a reliable comparison between different devices is possible. In the field of military detection equipment, this could be helpful for the procurement of additional components when the presently used version is no longer available or a replacement with new equipment has to be done.