INL Innovation Spotlight

Novel Training Surrogates for Emergency Response Training

Novel short-lived radioisotopes in a variety of chemical forms used as surrogate materials that have short half-lives and decay to stable, environmentally friendly elements.

Overview:       

Training with actual radioactive materials that are of concern to emergency response communities poses challenges due to their radiotoxicity. Radioactive materials used in industrial applications exist in different chemical forms, which affect their behavior when dispersed. Each radioisotope follows a unique radioactive decay path and emits particles accordingly. Most radioisotopes have long half-lives, lasting tens of years or more, and are environmentally and biologically persistent as well as radiotoxic. These properties make it impractical to use them for training purposes, except as sealed sources. Utilizing these isotopes for training in contaminated environments is not feasible due to the difficulties in developing and testing technologies to characterize large, contaminated areas. Simulating the detection of radioactive materials remains a challenge, as there is no suitable substitute available. The successful adoption of a surrogate material relies on its ability to match the radioactive emissions and chemical dispersion properties of actual radioactive materials.

Description:   

Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory have developed a technique using short-lived radioisotopes as training surrogates for industrial radioactive materials. Each surrogate material is carefully selected and developed to mimic the particle and photon emission properties, as well as the chemical and physical properties, of the target industrial radioisotope material.

The radioisotopes chosen for training surrogates have several key attributes: 1) they have relatively short half-lives (<2 days), 2) they decay to stable or short-lived daughter isotopes that further decay to stable, non-toxic isotopes, 3) high-purity target matrices can be obtained to prevent the formation of harmful radioactive isotopes, and 4) the physical and chemical properties of the matrices closely resemble those of the radioactive material targets.

These surrogate materials have been extensively evaluated and tested, and have proven to be highly effective in providing realistic training for emergency response methods, procedures, and technologies, including detection and dispersal characterization technologies.

Benefits:          

• Enables novel methods to make radioactive simulants for training US military and emergency response personnel tailored to individual training missions.

Applications:    

• Emergency response training

Development Status: 

TRL 7, full-scale prototype demonstrated in a relevant environment.  

IP Status:        

Provisional Patent Application No. 16/228,465, ”Surrogate Isotope-Containing Materials for Emergency Response Training and Methods of Formation and Dispersal,” BEA Docket No. BA-1017.

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