Orphan radioactive sources inadvertently melted in steel plants are a health and economical hazard. Thus, regulation authorities impose strict control measurements to be performed at these plants. However, a recent series of incidents related to the melting of $${}^{241}\hbox {Am}$$
241
Am
sources demonstrated the inadequacy of even state of the art systems in revealing this low-energy gamma ray emitter up to activities of the order of hundreds GBq. However, $${}^{241}\hbox {Am}$$
241
Am
sources are characterized by a weak neutron emission which can be detected by proper monitor systems. This work provides a feasibility study of a shielding-independent neutron-sensitive portal monitor system to be installed in steel plants. Measurements were performed both with a certified $${}^{241}\hbox {Am}$$
241
Am
shielded source and at the weighing area of a steel plant, to assess both the detector performance and the practical feasibility of the system implementation in work-place fields. A risk evaluation analysis demonstrated that with the current control systems $${}^{241}\hbox {Am}$$
241
Am
sources up to 185 GBq could pass undetected with a potential exposure for workers equal to 1.7 mSv, consistent with recent accidents reports. The proposed technique could reveal $${}^{241}\hbox {Am}$$
241
Am
activities down to 2 GBq, decreasing the worker exposure down to 24 $$\upmu \hbox {Sv}$$
μ
Sv
, without interfering with the standard plant operations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.