Lightweight aerial vehicles for monitoring, assessment and mapping of radiation anomalies

Airborne radiation mapping: overview and application of current and future aerial systems

“…Research into radiation surveying or mapping using UAVs has occurred for a range of scenarios, these include; ground-level radiation following post-disaster environments (Furutani et al, n.d.;Jiang et al 2015;Sanada and Torii 2015;Towler, Krawiec, and Kochersberger 2012), airborne plumes (Kurvinen et al 2005), low-level radiation anomalies (MacFarlane et al 2014;Martin et al 2015), indoor applications (Boudergui et al 2011) and theoretical tests (Boudergui et al 2011;Han and Chen 2014;Han et al 2013;Jiang et al 2015;MacFarlane et al 2014;Pöllänen et al 2009;Towler, Krawiec, and Kochersberger 2012) Previous studies have explored a variety of UAV designs (Table 1). These range from fixed-wing (Kurvinen et al 2005;Pöllänen et al 2009) to single rotor helicopter-style aircraft (Furutani et al, n.d.;Sanada and Torii 2015;Towler, Krawiec, and Kochersberger 2012) and multi-rotor systems (Boudergui et al 2011;Han and Chen 2014;Han et al 2013;MacFarlane et al 2014;Martin et al 2015).…”

“…However, major technological acceleration within the field has been evident since the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in March 2011 (Boudergui et al 2011;Cao et al 2015;Furutani et al, n.d.;Han and Chen 2014;Han et al 2013;MacFarlane et al 2014;Martin et al 2015;Sanada and Torii 2015;Towler, Krawiec, and Kochersberger 2012). Located off the eastern Japanese coast, the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting 15 m high tsunami (Simons et al 2011) destroyed the plants connection to the external power network and flooded the on-site back-up generators, leaving the reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) without adequate active cooling (Kurokawa, Ishibashi, and Oshima 2012;Povinec, Hirose, and Aoyama 2013).…”

“…Localization (Jiang et al 2015;MacFarlane et al 2014;Pöllänen et al 2009;Towler, Krawiec, and Kochersberger 2012) is the identification of an individual radioactive source, whereas mapping (Furutani et al, n.d.;Jiang et al 2015;Martin et al 2015;Sanada and Torii 2015) is rarely concerned with the location of a single emitter, and instead seeks to represent the distribution of radiation throughout a predefined area. Mapping is often used to quantify areas of risk; a tool that can be used to aid the decisions of governments and authorities, to protect a workforce or the public in the event of a disaster such as that which occurred at Fukushima Daiichi.…”

“…Additionally, those performing the survey are mostly removed from the risk of high-dose radiation exposure due to the operational altitude (≥120 m) , although flight trajectories which would pass through a radioactive fallout plume would still present a significant exposure to the operator and contamination risk to the aircraft. Despite being rapid, the initial expense of these systems is considerable (Guss 2011;MacFarlane et al 2014;Martin et al 2015) and aircraft are typically subject to strict regulations; including restricted flying zones, altitudes, and visibility restrictions (CAA 2015). The development of UAVs has removed much of the need for piloted surveys, having the ability to be remotely operated from a distance (up to 150 km) (Kurvinen et al 2005) or to fly autonomously along a pre-defined way-pointed flight path.…”

“…Such an approach removes the possibility of endangering first responders and survey workers within post-disaster environments. Moreover, UAV technology is considerably less expensive than the alternative human piloted option (MacFarlane et al 2014). In most countries, the restrictions upon UAVs are typically less stringent than for higher altitude and heavier airborne methods.…”