Calibration curves for on-line leakage detection using radiotracer injection method

One of the most important requirements for industrial pipelines is the leakage detection. In this paper, detection of leak and determination of its amount using radioactive tracer injection method has been simulated by Monte Carlo MCNP code. The detector array included two NaI (Tl) detectors which were located before and after the considered position, measure emitted gamma from radioactive tracer. After calibration of radiation detectors, the amount of leakage can be calculated based on the count difference of detectors. Also, the effect of material and thickness and diameter of pipe, crystal dimension, types of fluid, activity of tracer and its type (24Na, 82Br, 131I, 99mTc, 113mIn) as well as have been investigated on the detectable amount of leakage. According to the results, for example, leakage more than 0.007% in volume of the inlet fluid for iron pipe with outer diameter 4 inch and thickness of 0.5 cm, Petrol as fluid inside pipe, 3 3 inch detector and 24Na with activity of 100 mCi can be detected by this presented method.