The ACCUSCAN-II Vertical Scanning Germanium Whole Body Counter
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CANBERRA Industries
One State Street
Meriden, CT 06450
Editors note:
The following documents are more than 10 years old, and represent the original design philosophy of the Canberra FastScan and AccuScan Whole Body Counters. Since these documents were originally published, Canberra linear geometry Whole Body Counters have become the de facto standard in US and worldwide nuclear power plants. While some portions of the text are dated material, the documents contain WBC information that has not fundamentally changed over the years.
Canberra has continually updated the FastScan and AccuScan products over the years, utilizing the latest technological advances in computer processing and taking advantage of Canberra’s pioneering progress in nuclear spectroscopy. References in the documents pertaining to the limitations of computer memory, disk size, processing power are clearly no longer a factor. Menu driven software has given way to graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Stand-alone Multi-channel Analyzers (MCAs) are now PC card based or networked modules. Manually adjusted amplifiers, high voltage power supplies and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are now controlled by computer.
The original ABACOS software has undergone several generations of change: ABACOS-II, ABACOS-PC, ABACOS-PLUS, ABACOS-GPC and the current generation of Windows 9x/NT based software, ABACOS-2000. Advances in the ABACOS algorithms have improved NaI and Ge spectrum performance, providing more accurate and faster data results. Canberra’s latest development – the AutoScan – brings ATM-like convenience to the WBC world, providing whole body counts on demand with out the need for a count room operator.
In the years ahead, Canberra will continue to improve and enhance its Whole Body Counter product line as new advances are introduced.
ABSTRACT
The ACCUSCAN-II is manufactured by Canberra Industries, and represents a new generation of WBC systems. One or two Germanium detectors are used for precise nuclide identification. The detectors scan the total body and can accurately quantify radioactive material anywhere in the body. The shield is a full 4" thick steel weighs about 9000 lbs. The subject can be counted standing for full body scans, or seated for longer counting times over limited portions of the body. Optional electronics generate a count rate vs. body-position profile as an aid to interpretation of the dose implications of the count. Typical LLDs are 5-10 nCi for a 5 minute total body count and 0.5 - 0.7 nCi for a 5 minute lung screening count.
The system is available in several variations. The manual version is an inexpensive system intended for universities, hospitals and small industrial facilities. The automatic system includes a computer and runs ABACOS Body Burden Software, and is ideal for facilities with large numbers of people to count and where automated analysis of the data is desirable.
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