Radiation Monitoring of Containers with Nuclear Material

Nonproliferation of nuclear material and nuclear weapons throughout their life cycle is a key concern and the most important responsibility of all countries possessing these materials. This paper covers an hazardous item containing radioactive and explosives materials (HIREM). One of the ways to increase the probability of these hazardous objects being safe and secure is continuous monitoring, i.e. continuous surveillance and measurements of characteristic features of the cargo, as well as the container. The container cargo inherent characteristics are as follows: external appearance, shape, weight, magnetic properties, radiation characteristics, etc. The HIREM radiation fields are characterized by the indicators of different types of radiation (first and foremost, gamma-neutron) in the space surrounding the HIREM. Monitoring is defined as uninterrupted confirmation of the container’s contents throughout the life cycle.