Toby Wolverson
Pronouns: He/Him
About
My research project
Degredation of PSD capable plastic scintillators.This research project looks to investigate the suitability of new pulse shape discrimination (PSD) plastic scintillators for use in devices such as radiation portal monitors. Radiation portal monitors are a key part of national security, used primarily at points of entry into the country to identify radioactive materials being brought into the country. Typically they use helium-3 to detect neutrons emitted by these materials, but with the global shortage of helium-3, other neutron detection methods are sought after. PSD plastic scintillators are capable of detecting both gamma rays and neutrons, but have previously not had the durability required to withstand the varying environments in which they would be deployed. Newly developed plastics report far greater durability, and this work will investigate this utilising both accelerated ageing and exploring its radiation hardness.
Supervisors
This research project looks to investigate the suitability of new pulse shape discrimination (PSD) plastic scintillators for use in devices such as radiation portal monitors. Radiation portal monitors are a key part of national security, used primarily at points of entry into the country to identify radioactive materials being brought into the country. Typically they use helium-3 to detect neutrons emitted by these materials, but with the global shortage of helium-3, other neutron detection methods are sought after. PSD plastic scintillators are capable of detecting both gamma rays and neutrons, but have previously not had the durability required to withstand the varying environments in which they would be deployed. Newly developed plastics report far greater durability, and this work will investigate this utilising both accelerated ageing and exploring its radiation hardness.