Nuclear Science and Security Education Laboratory at Amity – Off-line and On-line Facility Development

Amity Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (AINST), Amity University Uttar Pradesh (AUUP) in with the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives (NSSPI) at Texas A & M University (TAMU), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and supported by Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), have collaborated to upgrade of its existing nuclear science and technology laboratory facilities [1,2]. The state-of-the-art laboratory upgrades involves setting up advanced radiation detectors and spectroscopy systems. The distinguishing characteristic of this laboratory will be remote accessibility to the lab. When fully established, such a facility will be the first in India. This laboratory will offer easy accessibility to various radiation detectors from remote locations as well as for online education and training to those who do not have such laboratories. In addition to the remote teaching capabilities will have fixed laboratory capabilities for education and training. This will include systems for alpha and gamma spectroscopy. There will be High Purity Germanium detectors (HPGe) of varied efficiencies, capable of identifying and quantifying nuclear and other radiological materials including environmental samples with very low radioactivity. Alpha spectrometer, scintillation detectors such as NaI (Tl), and CeBr of different crystal sizes along with the spectrometry capabilities will be also part of this state-of-the-art laboratory. These detectors will be used for teaching and research in the areas of nuclear security, nuclear structure, nuclear reaction, and radiochemistry. For various nuclear safety and security exercises, the laboratory will be equipped with radioisotope identifiers detectors (RIIDs), radiation portal monitors, radiation survey meters (neutron, alpha, beta, and gamma), contamination monitors apart from various infrared and microwave sensors. Most of the experiments except those involving RIIDs can be accessed remotely via internet by registered users. References: [1] G. Anthony, C.M. Marianno, 61st Annual INMM, Virtual Conference, 12-16 July 2020. [2] G. Anthony, E. Grant, C. M. Marianno; Remotely Controlled Radiation Detection Laboratory for Online Education, https ://hdl.handle .net /1969 .1 /193762, 2021