A portable detection apparatus can include a housing, a first detector for detecting ionizing radiation from a first subject and a second detector within the housing for the detecting the background radiation. A shield within the housing can surround the first and second detectors and define a shield aperture around the first and second detectors for radiation from the subject to enter the housing. A radiation blocking member can substantially block at least a portion of the ionizing radiation from reaching the second detector, whereby radiation detected by the second detector comprises substantially only the background radiation. A processor module can be connected to the first and second detectors for determining the amount of ionizing radiation detected by the first detector attributable to secondary radiation.

The method for providing a warning of radiation-dose-relevant space-weather events at cruising altitudes comprises the steps of detecting radiation data of the atmospheric radiation, particularly ionizing radiation in the atmosphere, and providing a radiation model for 3D-spatially resolved estimation of a radiation field at cruising altitudes of the earth's atmosphere by use of a radiation dose rate scale based on a continuous range of values. Moreover, the 3D-spatially resolved rates of the effective radiation dose on the basis of the detected radiation data and the radiation model will be estimated. The radiation dose rate scale is divided, based on a continuous range of values, into a discrete, i.e. graduated radiation dose rate scale comprising individual successive ranges of values of increasing radiation dose rates, and respectively one index will be assigned to each range of values, wherein a first range of values is between a radiation dose rate of zero and a presettable first upper limit, a second range of values is between the first upper limit and a second upper limit which is equal to a presettable multiple of the first upper limit, and each further range of values is between the upper limit of the next smaller range of values and an upper limit which is equal to the presettable multiple of the upper limit of the next smaller range of values. As a warning, there is indicated the index of that range of values within which is situated the estimated radiation dose rate for a presettable range in the earth's atmosphere.

The method for providing a warning of radiation-dose-relevant space-weather events at cruising altitudes comprises the steps of detecting radiation data of the atmospheric radiation, particularly ionizing radiation in the atmosphere, and providing a radiation model for 3D-spatially resolved estimation of a radiation field at cruising altitudes of the earth's atmosphere by use of a radiation dose rate scale based on a continuous range of values. Moreover, the 3D-spatially resolved rates of the effective radiation dose on the basis of the detected radiation data and the radiation model will be estimated. The radiation dose rate scale is divided, based on a continuous range of values, into a discrete, i.e. graduated radiation dose rate scale comprising individual successive ranges of values of increasing radiation dose rates, and respectively one index will be assigned to each range of values, wherein a first range of values is between a radiation dose rate of zero and a presettable first upper limit, a second range of values is between the first upper limit and a second upper limit which is equal to a presettable multiple of the first upper limit, and each further range of values is between the upper limit of the next smaller range of values and an upper limit which is equal to the presettable multiple of the upper limit of the next smaller range of values. As a warning, there is indicated the index of that range of values within which is situated the estimated radiation dose rate for a presettable range in the earth's atmosphere.

The present invention consists of a method and a scanning system for the nonintrusive inspection of vehicles, container trucks and train carriages, realized without direct human intervention upon the inspected object, thus eliminating time wasting activities like physical control, unsealing, etc. The proposed method for nonintrusive inspection of vehicles and containers has a high inspection capacity (up to 200 vehicles per hour), by achieving a complete vehicle radiography (except the driver's cabin), while driving through a scanning portal, geometrically optimized to be transported rapidly in ISO standardized containers using conventional transport systems (airplane, ship, train, or terrestrial on public roads). The system which implements the method presented earlier is constituted from a mobile scanning unit and a mobile control center which is positioned outside the exclusion area a which remotely command all the processes involved in the nonintrusive inspection.

The present invention consists of a method and a scanning system for the nonintrusive inspection of vehicles, container trucks and train carriages, realized without direct human intervention upon the inspected object, thus eliminating time wasting activities like physical control, unsealing, etc. The proposed method for nonintrusive inspection of vehicles and containers has a high inspection capacity (up to 200 vehicles per hour), by achieving a complete vehicle radiography (except the driver's cabin), while driving through a scanning portal, geometrically optimized to be transported rapidly in ISO standardized containers using conventional transport systems (airplane, ship, train, or terrestrial on public roads). The system which implements the method presented earlier is constituted from a mobile scanning unit and a mobile control center which is positioned outside the exclusion area a which remotely command all the processes involved in the nonintrusive inspection.

POS system checks for radioactive contamination of products without increasing any personnel workload. The POS system includes: a storage means for storing a product code and a radioactivity threshold defined for each product code in association with each other; a barcode scanner; a radioactivity measurement part for measuring radioactivity of a product based on a radiation dose emitted from the product; a comparison means for comparing a radioactivity threshold associated with the product code read by the barcode scanner with a radioactivity measurement value measured by the radioactivity measurement part; and alarm an output means for outputting an alarm when the radioactivity measurement value exceeds the radioactivity threshold. The radioactivity measurement part is arranged at such a position that, when the product exists at a scanning position (A) where the product code is read with the barcode scanner, the radioactivity measurement part detects the radioactivity of the product.

POS system checks for radioactive contamination of products without increasing any personnel workload. The POS system includes: a storage means for storing a product code and a radioactivity threshold defined for each product code in association with each other; a barcode scanner; a radioactivity measurement part for measuring radioactivity of a product based on a radiation dose emitted from the product; a comparison means for comparing a radioactivity threshold associated with the product code read by the barcode scanner with a radioactivity measurement value measured by the radioactivity measurement part; and alarm an output means for outputting an alarm when the radioactivity measurement value exceeds the radioactivity threshold. The radioactivity measurement part is arranged at such a position that, when the product exists at a scanning position (A) where the product code is read with the barcode scanner, the radioactivity measurement part detects the radioactivity of the product.

A breakage timing prediction system of a radiation detector includes: a sensor that detects a physical quantity applied to a radiation detector; a first hardware processor that collects information on the physical quantity detected by the sensor and analyses the collected information on the physical quantity to predict a breakage timing of the radiation detector; and a notifier that gives a notification of information on the predicted breakage timing of the radiation detector.

A breakage timing prediction system of a radiation detector includes: a sensor that detects a physical quantity applied to a radiation detector; a first hardware processor that collects information on the physical quantity detected by the sensor and analyses the collected information on the physical quantity to predict a breakage timing of the radiation detector; and a notifier that gives a notification of information on the predicted breakage timing of the radiation detector.

A radiation imaging apparatus that performs radiation imaging of a subject includes an image generation unit that generates a radiation image based on an incident radiation, and a control unit that, in a case where it is determined that at least any one of conditions including a positional relation between the radiation imaging apparatus and a radiation generation apparatus configured to generate the radiation, a positional relation between the subject and the radiation imaging apparatus, or a posture of the subject becomes a predetermined state in the radiation imaging, perform control so that a transition is made from a wait state in which a lower power consumption is provided than in an imaging-ready state in which the radiation is detectable by the image generation unit, to the imaging-ready state.