Hydrogen and Oxygen Analyzer in high Gamma Radiation

Abstract

Hydrogen is a by-product of the radiopharmaceutical industry, where to avoid accidental release of radioactive isotopes due to the hydrogen build-up, hydrogen needs to be converted into steam via a recombination reaction. This reaction also requires the presence of excess air/oxygen which needs to be monitored continuously, therefore, these instruments are required to withstand the high level of gamma radiation in the system. The gamma radiation rate the instruments are exposed to, is confidential but is within the range of 500 to 10,000 rad/hr. Tyne engineering has worked with manufacturers to customize these analyzers for the application. This work presents available technologies for hydrogen and oxygen and suitability of the ones for high level of gamma radiation. The customized instruments will also be discussed herein.