Construction of a shallow underground low-background detector for a CTBT radionuclide laboratory

The International Monitoring System is a verification component of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and in addition to a series of radionuclide monitoring stations, contains 16 radionuclide laboratories capable of verification of radionuclide station measurements. This paper presents an overview of a new commercially obtained low-background detector system for radionuclide aerosol measurements recently installed in a shallow (>30 meters water equivalent) underground clean-room facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Specifics such as low-background shielding materials and active shielding methods will be covered.