1. Mission, Audience, and Scope

1.1 Why This Handbook Exists

A modern first-response team is asked to do something that, two decades ago, was reserved for a federal lab: pull a hand-held instrument out of a truck, point it at a suspicious object, and identify a radionuclide in seconds. That capability now sits in the cab of a HazMat engine, in a patrol cruiser's trunk, in a federal protective detail's go-bag, and in the backpack of a stadium sweep team.

The instruments are ready. The doctrine is mostly written. What is missing, in too many places, is a field handbook that lives where the instruments live, small enough to fit in a pouch, dense enough to actually answer questions on scene.

This is that book.

1.2 Who Should Read This

This handbook is written for frontline operators:

• HazMat technicians and specialists
• Fire and rescue personnel cross-trained in radiological response
• Law enforcement officers assigned to bomb squads, SWAT, K9, dignitary protection, and patrol PRD programs
• EMS providers operating in CBRN-capable units
• Health department field responders who interface with HazMat on radiological incidents
• Emergency management staff who plan for radiological events but may also field instruments

It is written with supervisors and incident commanders in mind, but it is not a command-level document. The decision tree here keeps the operator focused on the next correct action; broader strategic decisions belong with command and reachback.

1.3 What This Handbook Covers

This book teaches you to operate the SAM family of handheld radioisotope identifiers and the RD-120 backpack/vehicle search system for the most common first-response missions:

• Investigating a personal radiation detector (PRD) alarm at a traffic stop
• Sweeping a public venue or large open area for an orphan or hidden source
• Distinguishing a medical patient or NORM scene from a true threat
• Supporting cargo and conveyance screening
• Working in or near a contaminated area after a radiological incident

It does not cover:

• Reactor or fuel-cycle work
• Source recovery operations led by federal teams (you may support, but you will not lead)
• High-purity germanium spectroscopy or laboratory analysis
• Long-form health physics calculations beyond what an operator needs in the moment

1.4 Who is Berkeley Nucleonics?

Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation (BNC) was founded in San Rafael, California, to provide analog pulsers to Berkeley National Laboratory. The company expanded into broader nuclear instrumentation, then into personal radiation detection with the SAM 935, a name that became shorthand for "rugged handheld RIID" in many response programs.

Today BNC produces both laboratory nuclear instruments and a full radiological response line: the SAM family of handheld RIIDs (using cerium bromide and lanthanum bromide scintillators), the RD-120 backpack search system, and integrated vehicle survey configurations. The company supports its instruments with reachback assistance, training, and field service from offices in California and partners worldwide.

1.5 The Three Promises of a RIID

Every RIID, regardless of vendor, exists to keep three promises to its operator. Modern units like the SAM 940+ add a fourth, get the answer back to the team that needs it, instantly:

1. Confirm radiation is present. the same job a PRD does, but with a larger, more sensitive crystal.
2. Quantify the dose rate. so the operator knows whether they're in a routine background or a hazardous field.
3. Identify the source. match the spectrum to a library and tell the operator what is there.

When all three promises are kept, the operator can answer the only question that matters in the first hour: Do we expand or contract our cordon?

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