Radioactivity measurements using storage phosphor technology

We propose to apply a recently developed charged particle radiation imaging concept in bio-medical research for fast, cost-effective characterization of radionuclides in contaminated sites and environmental samples. This concept utilizes sensors with storage photostimulable phosphor (SPP) technology as radiation detectors. They exhibit high sensitivity for all types of radiation and the response is linear over a wide dynamic range (>10{sup 5}), essential for quantitative analysis. These new sensors have an active area of up to 35 cm x 43 cm in size and a spatial resolution as fine as 50 {mu}m. They offer considerable promise as large area detectors for fast characterization of radionuclides with an added ability to locate and identify hot spots.