Integrated nuclear radiation detector and monitor

Claim 1

An integrated nuclear radiation detector and monitor comprising in combination: means constituting an ionization chamber (C) including walls defining said chamber; an electrode (24) positioned inside said chamber and electrically insulated from said chamber; means for maintaining a potential (V CH ) between said electrode and said chamber so that the current flowing from said electrode is equal to the saturation current of said ionization chamber for any given level of radiation; an electrical circuit including a source of potential (33); means interposed in the electrical circuit between said source of potential (33) and said electrode (24) providing a high resistance between said source of potential (33) and said electrode (24); means producing an adjustable reference potential (V ref ); a comparator (38) one terminal of which is connected to said reference potential (V ref ) and another terminal of which is connected to said electrode (24) for comparing the reference voltage with the voltage at said electrode, thereby producing an output signal; a solid state invertor (40) electrically connected to the output side of said comparator to receive said output signal; and an alarm electrically connected to said solid state invertor and actuated by said output signal.