UltraRadiac vs. RadEye

[Silverthorn28]

The RadEyes are becoming more popular in Canada these days and I don't see very many UltraRadiacs (Mini Radiacs) around. I would be curious to know what the people (mostly seasoned nuclear workers I guess) here think of the two? Or perhaps, some one may tell me these two are not really a pair for comparison? Thanks in advance.

[Cathy]

We just had Radeyes issued to us at Comanche Peak. I personally love mine. Small, good response, large readout and easy to use. Not all of the techs are in love with them but I would say most like them. They have two alarms you can set. Mine is set at 100 and 1000. They also got us a nice holster for them, just clip it on your belt.

[Silverthorn28]

We just had Radeyes issued to us at Comanche Peak. I personally love mine. Small, good response, large readout and easy to use. Not all of the techs are in love with them but I would say most like them. They have two alarms you can set. Mine is set at 100 and 1000. They also got us a nice holster for them, just clip it on your belt.

You know Cathy, just about every thing you said about RadEye can also be said about Ultraradiac, and plus Ultraradiac is more rugged (a civilian version of a military unit), with an add-on its dose rate info stored in memory is linked to location (GPS). Pricewise, RadEyes are slightly cheaper.

[Cathy]

I am not so sure that GPS would be practical in a nuke plant. Not only do you have multiple elevations, I don't think you could get a signal through the concrete. The radeye does save dose rates, I just never use that. The ones they gave us have a thick rubber case on them. It reminds me of the otter case my husband put on my iphone. I have never seen an Ultraradiac myself. I am pretty sure the radeyes come in different models. I am not that well versed on them. The radeye also has a temperature readout on them, gives us more incentive to whine about how hot/cold it is 

[nuke_girl]

I like the radeye temp readout..there are times when you dont have a temp reading and its darned handy to know the temperature you are in. It can affect stay times and certainly is a handy dandy tool. 

[Schiner]

As a DOE contractor, we need better sensitivity on the low end of the gamma energy range.  The Radeye G is sensitive down to 45KeV whereas the UltraRadiac's linearity has a low end of 60KeV.  That makes it tough when Am-241 is your main gamma.

[fnbrowning]

This top is of interest to me.

I'd like to compare response times of the  UltraRadiac vs. RadEye for finding orphaned sources on the move.

[cedugger]

Browning ~ It really depends on what range of orphaned sources you're talking about. Both the UltraRadiac and RadEye-G are compensated G-M's and aren't the best pieces of equipment for detecting and interdicting orphaned sources. The UltraRadiac is a commercial version of the military's UDR-14/15, which are CBRN response devices intended for battlefield situations where high dose is expected. The UltraRadiac is slightly more hardened than the RadEye-G, so it will response somewhat slower to very low intensities and energies of gamma/x-ray.

There is a version called RadEye PRD that uses a NaI detector which can supposedly see down to 30keV and will respond quicker due to the lower specific ionization of the scintillator. We could only test down to 60keV, but the RadEye PRD demonstrated a quicker response over any of the G-M based PRDs. The one downside is there is no G-M backup, so it overloads at 25mR/hr. Not a problem when selecting soley for detection and general location of a source.

[GLW]

This top is of interest to me.

I'd like to compare response times of the  UltraRadiac vs. RadEye for finding orphaned sources on the move.

If you have a legitimate need you should already know EI Detection & Imaging Systems.

The field instruments you are referencing are not good fits for your application.

Hunting "orphaned sources on the move" sounds odd on these boards,...

[GLW]

The RadEyes are becoming more popular in Canada these days and I don't see very many UltraRadiacs (Mini Radiacs) around. I would be curious to know what the people (mostly seasoned nuclear workers I guess) here think of the two? Or perhaps, some one may tell me these two are not really a pair for comparison? Thanks in advance.

I've always been partial to TF (nee Eberline, sort of), I like the RADEYE,...

[heavydose]

We have the Rad EYE GX,SX and ER  the Er is also a dose rate meter it is not good for low level dose rates ( it over responds) and contact dose rates will be higher due to the distance to the probe.