Nuclear Technology Laboratory
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Macedonia, Greece.

Objectives and targets

The scientific staff of the Nuclear Technology Laboratory implements a scientific activity on the subjects of environmental radioactivity (measurements-models), diagnostics of industrial systems, coproduction of heat and electricity, interaction of fast ions with matter.

1. History

The development of the Nuclear Technology Laboratory started at 1981 with main research interest on the subject of the diagnostics of Nuclear Reactors and environmental radioactivity. During the following years the Laboratory broadened its activities as can be seen at Current Activites. The Laboratory gradually obtained equipement with main finacial support from research contracts from the European Union and the General Secratariat of Reasearch and Technology of Greece.

2. Teaching

The scientific staff of the Laboratory teaches the following courses at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Introduction to Nuclear Technology

Theory and Technology of Nuclear Reactors

Heat Transfer

Electrical Power Plants.

About 6 students per year are working on their final project at the Laboratory.

3. Research activities.

The laboratory possesses a complete set of instruments for the implementation of special measurements on radiation detection. Actually:

• 2 laboratory systems for gamma spectroscopy each one consisting of a high purity germanium detector connected with a multi-channel analyzer (MCA) and a P.C.
• 2 portable systems for in-situ gamma spectroscopy consisting of a portable high purity germanium detector connected with a portable multi channel analyzer and a portable computer.
• 2 Portable systems for radon-thoron progeny measurements.
• 2 Portable Systems for radon measurements in air ,water and soil
• 20 portable digital radon monitors
• many (about 500) passive radon detectors (electrets)
• 1 Portable XRF system.
  
• 3 Hand held NaI gamma spectrometers (inspector 1000 with NaI (Tl) 2X2 , RIIDEYE -MG3  with NaI (Tl)  3X3  , Identifinder with  NaI(Tl)) ,1 ionization chamber, many Geiger detectors ,
• 1 air sampling system
• A network of computers with several PC's, ( Quad core).

This equipment offers the ability for the qualitative and quantitative determination of radionuclides. (eg. Cs-137 from the Chernobyl accident , NORM etc) with laboratory as well as with in-situ measurements. The Laboratory is a member of the National network for measuring the environmental radioactivity and in this framework the environmental radioactivity is being measured on a daily basis. The Laboratory  is also  a member of the IAEA  "ALMERA network " and for this reason participates regularly to the proficiency tests organized by IAEA on the determination of  radionuclides in environmental samples .

The Laboratory's staff worked on the concequences of the Chernobyl accident on the agricultural production and natural ecosystems at Northern Greece, on indoor radon , on radon in water , on radiation metrology , on the development of new techniques (eg  in situ gamma spectrometry for indoor measurements),on the simulation of Germanium and plastic detectors , on  industrial systems diagnostics, on fast ion interaction with matter with emphasis on the ion induced electron emission from solids. Almost the whole research work was or is carried out in the frame of the following externally financed projects. 

• On-Going Research  Projects

1. 2017-2021  Metrology for mobile detection of ionising radiation following a nuclear or radiological incident Short Name: Preparedness,  (contractor-member of the consortium) .European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research
2. 2018-2020  Safe Cross-Border Transportation of Hazardous Materials: Orphan Radioactive Sources   Short Name: STRAS  (contractor-member of the consortium) INTERREG IPA  Cross-Border <<Greece- FYROM>>.
3. 2019-2022   Laboratory-based and computational-based studies and best practice on radiation detection measurement to improve front line officers’ workflows. INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY  Research  Contract  No 23240

• Finished Projects
• 1987-1989 :  "Study of the atomic excitation and electron emission during the interaction of fast ion with the matter", (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY).
• 1987-1989:  "Survey of the log term consequences of Cs-137 and Cs-134 in the agricultural production in Northern Greece",  (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY).
• 1988-1990 : "Behaviour of long-lived radionuclides in soil-plant systems of the Mediterranean region",  (financed by DG XII , EUROPEAN COMMISSION.)
• 1991 :       "Electron emission from carbon foils under heavy ion bombardment", . (financed by DG XII , EUROPEAN COMMISSION.)
• 1991-1992 :"Dissociation of Hydrogen clusters during the interaction with gas and electron beams.",  (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY , bilateral cooperation between Greece-France).
• 1992-1995 : "Diagnostics on industrial systems", (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY bilateral cooperation between Greece-Hungary).
• 1993-1995 : "Study of the time dependent contamination with Cs-137 in the soil and agricultural products in Northern Greece",  (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY).
• 1993-1995 :"Cycling of Cesium in natural ecosystems", (financed by DG XII , EUROPEAN COMMISSION)
• 1994-1995 :"Pilot survey on the determination by in-situ gamma spectroscopy of outdoor and indoor exposure gamma rates in populated areas of Greece due to natural and artificial sources of radiation", . (financed by DG-XI, EUROPEAN COMMISSION).
• 1994-1995 :"Diagnostics of industrial systems with noise techniques" (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, bilateral cooperation between Greece-Hungary )
• 1994-1998 :"In-situ gamma ray spectrometry measurements in different towns of Greece", (financed by 30 different Municipalities).
• 1995-1997: "Secondary emission of electrons from solids", (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ) bilateral cooperation between Greece-Germany
• 1996 :"Calibration procedure for Ge detectors used for in-situ indoor spectrometry", . (financed by DG-XII, EUROPEAN COMMISSION).
• 1997-1999 :"Development of a dose-estimator from indoor gamma radiation, using Artificial Neural Networks" (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY,bilateral cooperation between Greece-Italy)
• 1997-2000 :"Distribution and recycling of radiocesium in a forest ecosystem" General Secretariat for Research and Technology (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY) .
• 1997-2000 :"Contribution of different radionuclides (of natural and artificial origin) to dose rates for the population of urban areas" (financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY) .
• 1998 :"Cosmic radiation induced background in a portable Ge detector"(financed by DG-XII, EUROPEAN COMMISSION)
• 1999 : "Gamma Spectroscopy system for Environmental Radioactivity Monitoring" (financed by the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA)
• 1999 -2004 :"Indoor radon measurements in working places " (financed by 8 different Prefectures) - 
• 2000-2002 :"In Situ gamma spectrometry for monitoring the environmental radioactivity"  (financed by DG-ENVIRONMENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION).
• 2000-2003 :"Investigation of the contribution of radionuclides, natural and artificial to the dose of the population at the Easter Aegean islands (financed by the GREEK MINISTRY for the ENVIRONMENT PHYSICAL PLANNING and PLANNING WORKS)
• 2002-2004 :"Detection of radioactive contaminated scrap metal in the entrance of steel factories .  Financed (as a partner) by the European Commission DG-TREN .(in collaboration with Dr. Potiriadis of the Greek atomic energy Commission
• 2005-2007 :  "Radiocesium distribution in Greek and Bulgarian Forest ecosystems" {financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, bilateral cooperation between Greece-Bulgaria)
• 2005-2007 :  "Application of a novel method for the in situ determination of radiocesium depth distribution in soil" {financed by GREEK SECRETARIAT OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, bilateral cooperation between Greece-Slovenia)
• 2005-2007 : "Pilot study of indoor radon measurements in Greek schools (financed by ALEXANDER. S. ONASSIS PUBLIC BENEFIT FOUNDATION)
• 2005-2009 : "Southern Urals Radiation Risk Research" ( Integrated Project contract number FI6R-516478, DG-RESEARCH, EUROPEAN COMMISSION).
• 2006-2008 :Contribution to the inspection of radioactive scrap metal in the entrance of steel factories (financed by SIDENOR steel factory)
• 2007-2009 Project of Radon measurements in schools of Xanthi (financed by Prefecture of Xanthi)
• 2009-2010  In situ Radon measurements at the Ehinos Thermal spring (financed by Prefecture of Xanthi)
• 2011 Fukushima-related radioactivity measurements (financed by Greek  Atomic Energy Commission)

• 2012-2015  Less Nuclear Waste and Safer Exploitation of Research Reactors  ( Partner ) . THALES grant proposal 307  (coordinator Dr. CATSAROS) .Financed ( as  member of the main research team) by the National Strategic Reference Framework.

• 2012-2015 Less Nuclear Waste and Safer Exploitation of Research Reactors Member of the main research team .  THALES grant proposal 307  (coordinator Dr. CATSAROS) Financed by the National Strategic Reference Framework

• 2014-2017 Metrology for radiological early warning networks in Europe    MetroERM-ENV57 Organization  Research Excellence Grant  (REG)

4.  Research cooperation's

The laboratory has cooperated with:

·    KFKI the nuclear research center of Hungary, on reactor diagnostics and safety. (II.7: financed bilateral agreement, publications: 13, 22, 28 of M Antonopoulos-Domis)

·         Polytechnico di Milano, Dept. of Nuclear Engng (II.7: financed bilateral agreement, publications: 23, 25, 36, of M Antonopoulos-Domis)

·         Institute of Nuclear Technology-Radiation protection, National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos” (publications: 29, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 51, 52, 54, 55, 56, 65, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71 of M Antonopoulos-Domis)

·         Institut de Physique Nucleaire de Lyon , Universite Claude Bernard Lyon-1 , France ( financed among other by CNRS , bilateral agreement . Publications : 10,16,21,22,24,25,26,27 of A. Clouvas)

·         Institut fur Kernphysik , University of Frankfurt , Germany ( financed among other by DAAD , bilateral agreement. Publications :7,8,9,12,14,15,18,19,28,29,39 , 45 of A. Clouvas )

·         Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche avec les Ions Lourds (CIRIL / GANIL  ) ,  Caen - France . (financed among other by a TMR European project. Publications : 33,34,38,40 ,43,48 ,50 ,51,52,54,56 of A. Clouvas)

·         Service Metrologie Nucleaire , Universite Libre de Bruxelles , Belgium (publications :61,62 of A. Clouvas)

·         College de France  and Universite Paris  Vi , France (financed by two TMR European projects . Publications : 42,53 of A. Clouvas)

·         Institute of Nuclear Physics , National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos” ,Greece (publications  32,63 of A.Clouvas)

·         Jozef Stephan Instiute , Slovenia ( financed  by bilateral agreement , publications : 66 of A. Clouvas)

·         Forest  Research Institute , Bulgaria Academy of Sciences  ( financed  by bilateral agreement , publications : 68 and 75 of A.Clouvas)

·         Mayak Production Association  (MAYAK PA) , Russia  (financed by the “Southern Urals Radiation Risk Research”, FP6 integrated project  of EURATOM. Publications : 67, 70 of A. Clouvas)

PTB , Germany : In two European projects

Ecole   Polytechnique.,France  :in a Joint  Doctorat (Joint Doctorat Agreement)

·         Greek Atomic Energy Commission  ( publications :60,69,71,72,76,86,88 of A. Clouvas)