AURAS

AURAS 3000 is an automated system designed to scan and characterise waste materials inside bags, boxes, drums, and B25 containers (density range: 100 – 2000 kg/m³). The system is equipped with up to four electro- or nitrogen-cooled HPGe detectors.

The main components of AURAS 3000 are:

• Main rail with moving platform
• Cross rail with movable detector towers (up to 2 HPGe each); the towers position can be adjusted to best fit the container size, and each detector can be independently moved along the vertical direction
• Remote PC control station and local PLC interface

Analysis of spectra is performed through a waste assay algorithm operating under the control of a proprietary software. The container is first positioned by crane or forklift onto the heavy-duty platform. The operator starts the procedure through the user interface, selecting the container type from a pre-set table. This results in an automated adjustment of the detector height as required by the counting geometry. The platform is then pulled towards the measurement area, where the volume of the container is scanned through a sequence of steps (sub-sections).

The system work cycle is managed by the control software, which sends commands to the PLC.

AURAS 3000 systems implement the “safety by design” principle to prevent any harm to operators and the system itself.

At the end of the measurement process, the system provides the following results:

• Spectra from each detector/position combination, individually saved and analysed
• Activity value of the container calculated by each detector (individual) and all detectors (average)
• “Hot spots” identification and analysis
• Individual and averaged MDA values