BAM - Berlin

Reduction of Radiation Exposure

by Modern Methods of
Digital Industrial Radiography
Uwe EWERT, Barbara SÖLTER, Bernhard REDMER, Uwe ZSCHERPEL, Matthias PURSCHKE

August 2006
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 1

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Legal Implementation

European HASS
Council Directive
Directive 96/29/EURATOM
2003/122/EURATOM
Transport was modified

High Activity Radiation

Sources Act – HRQ -
12.08.2005

Atomic Energy Act

modified: 12.08.2005

Radiological Protection Ordiance

modified: 12.08.2005

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 2

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Reduction of Dose for Population and
Limitations for Transport
• New stringent European (Euratom Basic Norm 1996) and national
standards on radiation protection limit annual personnel dosage
• Reduction of annual effective dose for
• population (1 mSv old: 1.5 mSv)
• NDT personal (20 mSv old: 50 mSv)
• Further limitation in handling and transport of gamma sources
• New act (High Activity Radiation Sources Act) on surveillance of highly
radioactive sources
• All this regulations limit the application of mobile radiological methods in
its conventional way
• New digital detectors enable reduction of dosage in industrial radiology
without lost of testing quality
• New opportunities of digital industrial radiology enhances the application
area
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 3

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Boundary of the Radiation Controlled Area

Radiation protection officer has to monitor the controlled areas!

Stationary operation Non-stationary operation
6 mSv/h/2000 h = 3 µSv/h (mobilê)
6 mSv/h/1200 h = 5 µSv/h 40 µSv/h (6 mSv/150h)
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 4

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 New
NewDigital
DigitalTechniques
Techniques
Scanner
Data Transmission
Imaging for Imaging
Reporting
Plates Plates

Computed
Radiography Archive
Standards available now

Film Digitizer Networking

Digital Detector Hard Copy

Arrays Grayscale
Printer Agfa

Radiology with
Digital Detector Arrays
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 5

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

Filmless Radiography

Computed Radiography with

Phosphor Imaging Plates

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 6

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 The
TheImaging
ImagingPlate
PlateCycle
Cycle
Scanning the IP , Digitising and
Erasing the residual Image
Exposure of Imaging Plate

Imaging Cassette
Plate Exposure

Lead filter

Processing Station

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 7

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 8

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Increased
IncreasedEfficiency
EfficiencyininCR
CRdepending
dependingon
onthe
the
Thickness
Thicknessofofthe
thePhosphor
PhosphorLayer
Layer
Laser beam

Photo
stimulated
luminescence

Higher attenuation

Thin phosphor layer Thick phosphor layer

Cost and/or time savings are
higher for imaging plates with
higher unsharpness but the
reduced spatial resolution
limits its application in NDT
The laser beam stimulates more luminescence
centers in a thick phosphor layer than in a thin
layer due to the optical scatter of the laser light
in the phosphor layer.
The efficiency depends basically on
the scintillator thickness
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 9

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 New Standards on Digital Industrial Radiology

EN 13068 Radioscopy
EN 14096, ISO 14096 Film Digitisation
EN 14784 CR Part 1: Classification of Systems, Part 2: General principles
ASTM CR Classification (E 2446), Long term stability (E2445),
Guide (E 2007), Practice (E 2033)
ASME Code CR Case 2476 Radiography (CR) with Phosphor Imaging Plates
ASTM E 07 DDA under development
ASTM E 2422 First digital catalogue, light alloy casting

• Since 2005 complete set of standards for Computed Radiology

• CR can be applied for NDT now!!!
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 10

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

Filmless Radiography

Some CR Applications

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 11

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

Principle of projection radiography: Magnification

tangential penetration of pipe wall

f = film focus distance

r = outer pipe radius
R = outer radius of insulation
w = projection of wall thickness
w on the detector plane

Example:
Example:
VEBA-OEL
VEBA-OELin
inGelsenkirchen
Gelsenkirchen
63%
63%of
ofall
allNDT:
NDT:
Radiography
Radiography(2000)
(2000)with
with w` measured on film
~~50,000
50,000films
filmsper
peryear
year
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 12

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

Deposit Blocks Valve Function
New Applications due to
higher sensitivity of
detectors  this may
even increase dose load
to the environment but
also enhance economy
and safety

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 13

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 CoMech, UK


Southern Region of London

Hong Kong MTR and KCR
Corporations

Eurotunnel


Controlled area < 1m

System Se-75 and CR with
collimation tube

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 14

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

CR
CR System
System Classification
Classification for
for FUJI
FUJI XG-1
XG-1 (DynamiX)
(DynamiX)
--Admissible
AdmissibleDose
DoseReduction
Reduction--
220 kV, 8 mm Cu, 0,1mm Pb screen with ST-VI IP

Imaging Plate and X-ray film systems with comparable image quality
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 15

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Filmless Radiography

Digital Detector Arrays

The new High Contrast Sensitivity Technique

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 16

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Increased
IncreasedEfficiency
Efficiencyby
byNew
NewDigital
DigitalDetector
DetectorArray
ArrayTechnology
Technology

The efficiency depends on the

pixel area and the scintillator
thickness

High number of Low number of

photons per time unit photons per time unit

Cost and/or time

X-Rays
savings are higher for
detectors with large
pixels but the low Thick Thin
spatial resolution limits scintillator scintillator
its application in NDT
Large photo diode Small photo diode
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 17

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Pipe
Pipe Inspection
Inspection

New
NewSystem:
System:
X-ray
X-raytube,
tube,
Image
Imageintensifier
intensifier

Less expensive
manipulation technique

Flat panels
Unit: substitute film and
Varian flat panel detector intensifier technology

Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 18

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Motivation
Motivation for
for Film
Film Replacement
Replacement by
by
DDA‘s
DDA‘s
• Shorter test and interpretation time

• Less radiation dose

Film (D4)
• New application areas by higher
inspection quality and wall
thickness range

• No chemicals and dangerous

waste
Flachdetektor (Hamamatsu)
• Less consumables High Contrast Sensitivity Technology
by nonlinear DDA calibration
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 19

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Summary:
Summary:
 New digital detectors (e.g. imaging plates, digital detectors arrays) permit the computer
based analysis of radiometric images as well as taking them within a shorter exposure
time or with less active sources.
 The computed radiography (CR) with imaging plates (IP) can be applied for in-service
and in-house inspection very efficiently. The exposure time is more than 50% shorter in
comparison to an X-ray film-lead combination.
 Systems with large effective pixel size enable an extraordinary reduction of exposure
dose
 Digital detector arrays (DDA or flat panels) permit the acquisition of images in few
seconds. A main application field is the inspection of serial parts in production lines.
 This also allows the extended usage of radiation methods for improvement of safety and
reliability in industry since the new digital techniques can be applied even with enforced
radiation protection laws.
 The new classification standards (EN 14784, ASTM E 2446) permit the calculation of
the dose reduction in comparison to NDT film systems.
 New calibration methods enable the High Contrast Sensitivity Technology for
radiographic inspection, which exceeds the contrast sensitivity of the best film systems.
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 20

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 End

BAM-Berlin,
BAM-Berlin,Lab.
Lab.VIII.3
VIII.3
Unter den Eichen 87
Unter den Eichen 87
12005 e-mail:
e-mail:uwe.ewert@bam.de
12005Berlin
Berlin uwe.ewert@bam.de
http://www.bam.de
Tel.
Tel.(030)
(030)81041831
81041831 http://www.bam.de
FAX
FAX (030)811
(030) 8115089
5089
Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 21

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology

 Ewert et al., Aug. 2006 22

Radiation Exposure in Industrial Radiology