Applications of Radiation-Hard Fused Silica Materials in Post-Nuclear Accident Radiation Monitors

Radiation-hard fused silica materials are used as optical radiators in forward detectors in the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN (these materials have been found to operate without significant loss of transmission up to 3 MGy). Utilizing such radiation-hard materials could improve the lifetime of monitoring systems in extreme environments, such as those found in nuclear power plant accidents. For this purpose, we want study how fused silica based detectors could potentially be used to distinguish different radiation types. The experimental setup will consist of sources emitting alpha, beta, gamma, and/or neutron radiation incident upon configurations of detector materials, including fused silica radiators, coupled to a radiation-hard PMT. The resulting signals are read out through a preamplifier and processed by a waveform digitizer. This setup will be used to study the behavior of the PMT signal for varying dose rates and total doses. Here, we will introduce the methodology for testing fused silica and PMTs for different radiation types. The viability of future applications for radiation monitoring systems for nuclear power plant accidents will be discussed.