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December 18, 2009

Belgium’s Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC/AFCN) has awarded TechniData to modernize the monitoring stations in the nation-wide TELERAD network and add a number of additional stations. Following an official invitation to tender that resulted in submissions from five other companies, the contract was awarded to TechniData in November.

TELERAD is Belgium’s measuring network for automatically monitoring radioactivity and providing alerts. It comprises a dense network of 130 measuring stations across the entire country, with a grid distance of approx. 20 kilometers between the individual measuring points and additional measuring stations in towns and cities close to the nuclear plants. Further four rings with a total of 62 measuring stations monitor the radioactivity in the vicinity of the Mol, Fleurus, Tichange and Doel nuclear plants. The FANC/AFCN commissioned TechniData to modernize all the measuring points and add 40 new ones to the network.

The work involves modernizing the existing 15-year-old monitoring system, designing data transmission with inbuilt redundancy based on a cutting-edge data communication infrastructure, and overall improvement of the early warning system. The project is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2010. TechniData’s gamma dose rate monitoring stations will be used for nationwide monitoring at the new total of 170 measuring stations. They measure gamma radiation levels continuously and transmit the results together with all status information and any alerts to the control center every ten minutes.

Data is transmitted via the DSL and GPRS data communication networks. TechniData’s new SARA spectroscopic measuring systems are being used for the 62 measuring stations ringing the nuclear plants. These stations will use data transmission with multiple inbuilt redundancy (DSL, GPRS and satellite), also at 10-minute intervals. SARA not only enables continuous measurement of the gamma dose rate. It also records the energy spectrum online and automatically determines the radioactive isotopes. Artificial radioactive nuclides in the environment can thus be detected much sooner and at much lower concentrations, which helps significantly improve early warning functions when monitoring radioactivity. This improves public safety by optimizing the monitoring of radioactivity in the environment.