Image Reconstruction of Radioactive Contamination Due to the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident Using a Compact Compton Camera

We developed a lightweight compact Compton camera to measure the distribution of radioactive contamination inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. We conducted performance evaluation tests in the coastal area of Fukushima, Japan, using the camera, which employs a cerium (Ce)-doped GAGG (Gd₃Al₂Ga₃O₁₂) scintillator coupled with a multipixel photon counter. The camera can clearly visualize spreading of radioactivity along the ground surface. In addition, we performed three-dimensional image reconstruction of the distribution of radioactive contamination using the multi-angle data obtained with the Compton camera. We succeeded in obtaining a three-dimensional image of radioactive contamination in the outdoor area.