FOOMON

FOOMON is a portable fully-integrated instrument specifically conceived for screening of I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 accumulated in food samples. Its “on-the-field” design allows deploying the device in any kind of situation, such as routine campaigns or emergency procedures.

The whole device is self-contained in a portable high-IP-grade technical case, for an overall weight < 25 kg. The food samples are to be placed in 500 ml Marinelli beakers, which then are lodged inside a 1 cm thick lead shielding well upon the detector’s end cap. The complete setup and deployment of the system requires less than 5 minutes.

The User can manage FOOMON through the user-friendly control and analysis software installed on the embedded panel PC, automatically calculating the specific activity and the Minimum Detectable Concentration (MDC) of the sample (in Bq/kg). Data are stored locally and can be analysed and downloaded with dedicated software routines.

The measured activity concentration is compared with isotope-specific and food-group-specific alarms. In the case of an alarm, the measurement output is clearly labelled and the alarm status is clearly displayed on the software, which also activates the acoustic alarm.

The counts-to-activity-concentration conversion coefficients are calculated by means of dedicated Monte Carlo calculations.

The MDC achievable in 1 minute, with an average indoor background (150 nSv/h), is as low as about 150 Bq/kg for Cs-137 and Cs-134, and about 90 Bq/kg for I-131. Under the same conditions, MDC as low as about 30 Bq/kg for I-131, and about 40 Bq/kg for Cs-134 and Cs-137, can be achieved in about 10 minutes.

If enabled, the automatic background subtraction subroutine allows further lowering MDC and measurement uncertainty without increasing the counting time.