Engineering Upgrades to the Radionuclide Aerosol Sampler/Analyzer for the CTBT International Monitoring System

The Radionuclide Aerosol Sampler/Analyzer (RASA) is an automated collection and analysis system designed for aerosol radionuclide monitoring for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The advantages of an automated system include minimal need for human intervention and consistent analytical data. However, maintainability and down time issues threaten this utility, even for systems with over 90 % data availability. Engineering upgrades to the RASA are currently being pursued to address these issues, as well as measures relevant to technical lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear power plant event. Current work includes a new automation control unit and other potential improvements such as alternative detector cooling and sampling options. This paper presents the current state of upgrades and improvements under investigation.