Performance evaluation of a nuclear facility monitoring system using multi-sensor network and artificial intelligence algorithm

As the use of nuclear and radiation technologies increases, the importance of radiation safety and monitoring increases. In this study, we develop a nuclear facility monitoring system (NFMS) for rapid response to radiation accidents in nuclear material storage facilities; (1) multi-sensor network based on NaI(Tl) detector and FPGA-DAQ system and (2) an artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm for tracking radiation source location. Energy resolution and sensitivity of the detectors were evaluated to accurately track the location of radioactive materials and to identify nuclides using the multi-sensor network. To evaluate the localization accuracy of NFMS, a test storage facility was built and experiments were performed. Localization accuracy was obtained by analyzing the measured counts for each detector using an artificial intelligence (AI) based ANN algorithm, confirming an accuracy of over 99%. The developed NFMS is expected to contribute to the safe management of radioactive materials in nuclear facilities.