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June 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine
Student helps improve life-saving air monitoring system
April Martinez improves the continuous air
monitoring system for TA-55 by measuring the
instrument’s response to different radioactive
sources. Photo by Sandra Valdez
Air monitoring can save workers’ lives by alerting them to
the presence of harmful pollutants and directing them to
vacate the area. Continuous air monitoring (CAM) systems
constantly sample the air in radiological laboratories and
other workspaces, such as the Lab’s Plutonium Facility, for
the presence of airborne radioactivity.
Lab student April Martinez played a crucial role in improving
the CAM system at Technical Area 55, said David
Wannigman of Health Physics Operations (RP-1). The state-of-
the art system notifies workers to vacate the area when
particles of plutonium and other actinides are detected in
the workplace.
Martinez recently tested TA-55’s CAMs on a daily basis for
sensitivity, how low the alarms were set, and how fast they
alerted. “We tried to reduce the response time from minutes
to seconds to see how long it would take for a CAM to
alarm and whether an individual in the field had enough
time to get out before being contaminated,” she said.
Numerous tests were necessary, as lowering the CAM
alarm set points and reducing response time were balanced
against the risk of generating false alarms, Wannigman
explained.
Martinez said this was the first time she had tested CAMs.
“That made [working with them] a challenge, but in a good
way,” she said. “I had the opportunity to learn things I never
thought I’d learn.”
Martinez graduated from Española Valley High School in
2008 and is majoring in software engineering at Northern
New Mexico College. She came to Los Alamos in August
2008 through the Lab’s undergraduate program and,
because of her work in RP-1, has become interested in
radiation protection.
“I consider working at the Lab a great accomplishment,”
Martinez said. “I like the environment and the people
around me; everyone is really nice and very helpful.” She
added, “I would recommend working at the Lab to my
friends and anyone willing to learn and continue growing
their knowledge, as well as their careers.”
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