Flats donating radiation monitor to Russian facility

GOLDEN — Worker radiation monitoring equipment from Rocky Flats that was scheduled for demolition is being donated by the United States to Russia’s First Institute of Biophysics facility, located in the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains.

The excess lung-counting equipment, including a steel counting vault with graded liners to shield background radiation and current germanium detectors, is located in Building 123 at Rocky Flats.

Building 123 houses one of four lung counters at Rocky Flats and is destined for demolition as part of the Department of Energy’s efforts to accelerate site cleanup and closure.

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Russian scientists responsible for monitoring the health of Russian nuclear workers presently use sodium iodide detectors that are not as sensitive or precise as germanium detectors.

The Rocky Flats equipment will provide the First Institute of Biophysics with the capability to better measure internal depositions of plutonium and americium in workers and allow U.S. and Russian scientists to compare data on workers using the same data sets.