Applicability of an X-ray and gamma-ray portable spectrometer for activity measurement of environmental soil samples

This paper presents a study on the applicability of a commercial X-ray and gamma-ray portable spectrometer (Rover) for in situ gamma-ray spectrometry. This portable spectrometer consists of a 3 × 3 × 1 mm (CdTe) Cadmium Telluride detector and a 30 × 30 mm [NaI (Tl)] Sodium Iodide detector. The radioactive sources used were ²⁴¹Am, ¹³³Ba, ¹⁵²Eu and ¹³⁷Cs tablet type, sealed with aluminum and polyethylene, as well as soil samples contaminated with ¹³⁷Cs. With the aid of these radioactive sources, this study determined the efficiency curve for both detectors. In addition, measurements were carried out to identify the minimum detectable activity (MDA) for both detectors, using time acquisition change ranging from 900 s to 138 h, depending on which detector was utilized and the sample distance. The results for the tablet-type sources were as follows: The MDA for the CdTe detector, while positioned 4.15 cm from the ¹³⁷Cs source, was 15 kBq and 6 kBq for energy lines 32 keV and 661.65 keV, respectively. However, when the distance between the source and detector was 100 cm, the 661.65 keV line presented a MDA of 68 kBq. Results for the soil samples were as follows: Using the CdTe detector, positioned 4.15 cm from the source, the MDA was 73 Bq for the ¹³⁷Cs 32 keV line. In relation to the ⁷Be soil samples, the MDA was 301 Bq when the detector was 4.15 cm from the source. Using the NaI (Tl) detector to analyze the ¹³⁷Cs 661.65 keV line, the MDA was 8 kBq when the detector was 100 cm from the tablet-type source. For the soil sample containing ¹³⁷Cs, the MDA was 7.4 Bq when the source was 2.8 cm from the NaI (Tl) detector. For those samples containing ⁷Be, and measured at the same distance (2.8 cm), the MDA was of 9.6 Bq. Based on the minimum detected activities obtained for both detectors, it is concluded that the in situ gamma-ray spectrometric system used to quantify soil sample activities with ¹³⁷Cs and ⁷Be is only appropriate when those activities are around one or more orders of magnitude larger than the usual radioactivity levels found in the environment. Even though it is a commercialized machine, the Rover system’s manufacturer does not provide the information cited in this abstract.     

The beta branching ratio and conversion coefficients in the137Cs decay

The decay of¹³⁷Cs has been reinvestigated using several precision counting methods. The emission rate ofβ-particles plus internal conversion electrons was measured by the 4π-proportional counter method using vacuum evaporated sources free of self-absorption and checked by the liquid scintillation method. TheK-conversion coefficient was determined by the electron X-ray coincidence method using a magnetic spectrometer and a high resolution Si(Li) detector. TheK/(L+M+...) conversion ratio and a second less accurate value for the β-branching ratio were obtained from the recorded electron spectra. Theγ-ray emission rate of all sources was determined to within ±0.14%, on the average, with a calibrated NaI(Tl) crystal detector. As results the intensity of theβ-decay to the ground state of¹³⁷Ba could be determined to (5.4±0.3)% of the¹³⁷Cs decays, theK-conversion coefficient to 0.0916±0.0004, and theK/(L+M+...) conversion ratio to 4.41±0.04. From these values the γ-ray emission intensity is (85.1±0.4)% of the¹³⁷Cs decays and theK X-ray emission intensity is (8.13±0.10)% of the emittedγ-rays. All errors are discussed in detail.     

A new configuration of the Moxon–Rae detector based on Si detector

A new Moxon–Rae detector configuration based on Si semiconductor detector was proposed in this paper. Three γ-ray sources, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁰Co, and ²⁴Na, were employed to make actual measurements using the new Moxon–Rae detector. The measured pulse height spectra and detection efficiencies were compared with the EGS4 simulated values. The results revealed that the proposed new configuration is indeed a successful method and specially a useful technique for higher energy γ-ray measurement.     

Radionuclides in deposition in the Ignalina NPP region in 2005

Results of radionuclide activity concentration measurements in deposition and ground-level air conducted at the station of the Institute of Physics situated 3.5 km from the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (Ignalina NPP) in 2005 are analyzed. Atmospheric depositional fluxes of ⁷Be, ⁶⁰Co and ¹³⁷Cs are estimated. Radionuclide particle deposition rates are calculated. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model of the global dispersion and deposition is used to explain variations in the ¹³⁷Cs activity concentration in the ground-level air in the Ignalina NPP region in 2005. An increase in the ¹³⁷Cs activity concentration of up to 17.4 μBq m⁻³ on 30 October-5 November is studied. Modelling results show that the Chernobyl NPP Unit 4 Sarcophagus and the radiocaesium resuspension from the Chernobyl NPP accident polluted regions are sources of ¹³⁷Cs to the environment of the Ignalina NPP. Results on solubility in water of aerosols — carriers of ¹³⁷Cs — are discussed.     

Experimental and simulated validation of the energy dependence of saturation thickness of multiple scattered gamma rays

Saturation thickness for multiple scattering gamma rays from multiple sources has been measured experimentally and simulated using the Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) Code. Experimental measurements were performed using a collimated beam of gamma-rays from ⁵⁷Co, ²⁰³Hg, ¹³³Ba, ²²Na, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁶⁵Zn and ⁶⁰Co sources. The gamma rays were directed at rectangular aluminium targets of varying thickness. A NaI (Tl) scintillation detector placed at a backscattering angle of 180° was used to detect the scattered photons. The measured and calculated saturation thickness increases with increasing energy of incident gamma-rays. Experimental and simulated values are compared and are in good agreement.     

基于CdZnTe像素阵列探测技术的伽玛源成像

根据高能射线针孔成像理论,采用CdZnTe像素阵列探测器建立了直接成像探测模式的伽玛源针孔探测系统。测试分析了CdZnTe像素阵列探测器的能量分辨力及峰值效率,讨论研究了针孔成像探测系统的调制传递函数和附加噪声特性,测试获得直径5mm137Cs源的探测图像,采用Lucy-Richardson迭代算法得到了137Cs源的复原图像。实验结果表明:CdZnTe探测器对662keV137Cs源的能量分辨力为6.25%～7.50%,峰值效率65.0%～72.5%;成像系统探测图像存在一定扩散现象,所采用的Lucy-Richardson迭代复原算法能较好地修正图像扩散,提高探测图像中心区域细节分辨力;估算所得137Cs源尺寸误差约0.5mm,所建立的CdZnTe针孔成像探测系统能有效得到小尺寸伽玛源的辐照强度分布及尺寸信息。     

Monte Carlo modelling of human body for dose conversion coefficients of 137Cs in soil of the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey

Absorbed dose conversion coefficients for a human body standing on the soil surface were calculated for ¹³⁷Cs in the soil of Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey using the Monte Carlo simulation method. The results were given in nGy h^?1 per Bq cm^?2 as a function of depth. Simple numerical integration of this function multiplied with the known specific activity as a function of depth gives the absorbed dose conversion coefficients for any distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in soil. Gaussian distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in the soil was considered for calculations.     

137Cs and 40K in some traditional herbal teas collected in the mountain regions of Serbia

Herbal teas are an important part of traditional medicine in Serbia. The objective of the present study was to determine the activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs in herbal tea, using the gamma spectroscopy method. The samples were collected during the period 2011–2012 in three mountain regions in Western and Central Serbia. The activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs were found to be in the range of 130–1160 and 0.7–124 Bq kg^?1, respectively. The average annual effective dose equivalents from ingestion of ⁴⁰K and ¹³⁷Cs for an adult person consuming one cup of herbal tea daily were found to be 588.4–5250.2 nSv for ⁴⁰K and 4.0–706.1 nSv for ¹³⁷Cs. Our investigation showed that the herbal teas originating from Maljen, Zlatibor and Tara mountains are radiologically safe for human consumption.     

Exploring music

Radioactivity in the environment includes naturally occurring as well as man-made radionuclides. Meaningful estimates of their hazard to health require much care in obtaining representative environmental samples, appropriate sample preparation as well as proper calibration of the measuring system. Any harm from the low absorbed doses of ionizing radiation typically received from environmental radioactivity would only occur after a latent period of several years. Of these, cancer induction is considered to be the most important. Risk factors have been derived by a number of internationally recognized organizations, but there are difficulties in extrapolating from observations at a high dose and dose rate and for the lifetime of exposed populations. Examples of measurement of ²²²Ra, ⁹⁰Sr, ¹²⁵I, ²²⁶Ra, ¹²⁹I and ¹³⁷Cs in the environment are given. Harmful effects from environmental radioactivity have mostly been indistinguishable above natural incidence. For health purposes there may be little need for further increases in sensitivity of detection but there is a continuing need to ensure the greatest accuracy in measurements to avoid magnifying the inevitable uncertainties in estimating radiation hazards.     

基于虚拟刻度原理对放射性体源效率刻度方法的发展

采用蒙特卡罗模拟计算的方法,标定能够适用于不同HPGe探测器上的体源虚拟点源位置,需要对点源、体源的探测效率进行模拟计算。通过²⁴¹Am、¹³⁷Cs、⁶⁰Co点源和体源研究了HPGe晶体尺寸、类型对它们的虚拟点源位置的影响,模拟结果表明²⁴¹Am虚拟点源位置随着探测器尺寸、类型的不同呈现明显的差异性,说明虚拟刻度原理对于探测器表面的小体积样品测量在低能区间是不可取的,最后采用¹³⁷Cs、⁶⁰Co源得出体源高度与虚拟点源位置的半经验公式。通过实验室两台HPGe探测系统对尺寸Φ70 mm×65 mm标准土壤体源的探测效率进行计算,与模拟探测效率值、虚拟点源效率表征结果对比分析,验证了拟合一组表征虚拟点源位置的半经验公式是可行的。实验结果表明,对γ能量区间在300～2 000 keV进行体源的虚拟刻度时,选择可靠的定标源即可建立体源和虚拟点源位置的关系。这为解决监测工作中样品与探测器之间重复进行探测效率校准的问题提供了新的途径。     

137Cs and 40K activity concentration measurements and elemental analysis in lichen samples collected from the Giresun province of northeastern Turkey

About 21 years after the Chernobyl accident, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K activity concentration measurements using gamma-ray spectroscopy and elemental analysis using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were performed in five different lichen species collected from the Giresun province of northeastern Turkey. Being a symbiosis of algae and fungi, lichens are mostly used for environmental measurements since the fungal partner is responsible for the uptake of necessary nutrients or harmful substances, such as heavy metals of radionuclides. The gamma activity results showed that ¹³⁷Cs, an artificial radionuclide released from the Chernobyl power plant accident, is still eminent in the environment of the province. The mean activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K ranged from 24 to 254 with the mean value of 102 Bq kg^?1 and from 345 to 2103 with the mean value of 1143 Bq kg^?1 in dry weight. The results of the elemental analyses showed potassium, calcium, titanium, iron, tin, and barium in different concentrations.     

Sedimentological study of a lagoon through natural radioactivity and <Superscript>137</Superscript>Cs determinations

Profiles of artificial fallout (such as ¹³⁷Cs) and natural radioactivity radionuclides in sediment cores are useful tools to study sedimentological properties of different aquatic environments as well as to evaluate average sedimentation rates. In the Portil lagoon, a small natural reservoir located in Huelva province (southwest of Spain), and through the analysis of ²¹⁰Pb, ²²⁶Ra, ¹³⁷Cs, ²³⁸U and ²¹⁰Po vertical profiles in sediment cores, it is shown how the accumulative or transport character of the collection zones may be inferred. In the accumulation zone of the lagoon the influence of focusing effects has been analysed and an average sedimentation rate has been determined through ²¹⁰Pb in one sediment core. This ²¹⁰Pb-sedimentation rate is consistent with sediment dating based on the ¹³⁷Cs data.     

Digital pulse shape discrimination methods for n-γ separation in an EJ-301 liquid scintillation detector

A digital pulse shape discrimination system based on a programmable module NI-5772 has been established and tested with an EJ-301 liquid scintillation detector. The module was operated by running programs developed in Lab VIEW, with a sampling frequency up to 1.6 GS/s. Standard gamma sources22 Na,137Cs and60 Co were used to calibrate the EJ-301 liquid scintillation detector, and the gamma response function was obtained. Digital algorithms for the charge comparison method and zero-crossing method have been developed. The experimental results show that both digital signal processing(DSP) algorithms can discriminate neutrons from γ-rays. Moreover,the zero-crossing method shows better n-γ discrimination at 80 ke Vee and lower, whereas the charge comparison method gives better results at higher thresholds. In addition, the figure-of-merit(FOM) for detectors of two different dimensions were extracted at 9 energy thresholds, and it was found that the smaller detector presented better n-γseparation for fission neutrons.     

Measurement of 137Cs in cultivated soils from two loess areas in Poland

In this paper, a vertical distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in agricultural soil was investigated. ¹³⁷Cs is an anthropogenic radioisotope which is strongly adsorbed in soil and can be used to study soil erosion. This paper presents some preliminary results of measurements of activity of ¹³⁷Cs in soil in Bia?a and Odonów areas. In both areas, the upper part of the soil profile was cultivated. The experimental results show that the vertical distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in agricultural soil is different from the vertical distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in undisturbed soil. The ¹³⁷Cs is more uniformly distributed in the cultivated soil layer than in an undisturbed site. Migration of ¹³⁷Cs below plough depth is limited. These data show that the depth distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in soil profiles for cultivated fields should be considered for precise determination of soil erosion.     

Radioactive contamination of the atmosphere of Cairo,Egypt, from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant accident

Radioactive contamination in air dust particles of Cairo atmosphere from the Fukushima accident was detected by the gamma-ray spectroscopy technique. Analysis of the spectra obtained by using an High-Purity Germanium detector showed that there were some traces of ¹³¹I and ^{134, 137}Cs. Estimate and study of concentration of those radionuclides were done over a period of about 5 months after the accident. Comparison with corresponding results in different countries all over the world has been performed.     

Statistical relationship between activity concentrations of radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th, 40K,and 137Cs and geological formations in surface soil of Jordan

An extensive study was conducted to determine the activity concentrations of natural and artificial radionuclides ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K, and ¹³⁷Cs in soil samples of each governate of Jordan. A total of 370 samples have been measured using a high-purity germanium detector. The activity concentration for ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K, and ¹³⁷Cs has mean values of 42?±?3, 23?±?3, 309?±?21, and 3.7?±?0.9 Bq kg^–1, respectively. The highest mean activity concentration for ²²⁶Ra was found to be 138?±?4 Bq kg^–1 in the Alkarak governate. In the Ajloun and Jarash governates, the highest mean activity concentration was 35?±?3 Bq kg^–1 for ²³²Th, and 14.2?±?1.9 Bq kg^–1 for ¹³⁷Cs, respectively. Geological influence on the activity concentrations was investigated using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent samples. The ANOVA results indicate that there are strong significant differences between the activity concentrations of ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K, and ¹³⁷Cs based on geological formations the radionuclides occur. The main contribution to gamma dose rate was due to ²²⁶Ra activity concentration. Radium equivalent and external hazard index are associated with a mean value of 98 Bq kg^–1, and 0.266, respectively.     

Speciation of radionuclides of the Chernobyl origin in aerosol and soil samples

Speciation of^134,137Cs,⁹⁰Sr,²³⁴U,²³⁸U,²³⁸Pu,^239,240Pu and²⁴¹Am was investigated in aerosol samples collected after the Chernobyl accident and in the Chernobyl soil. Sequential extraction experiments have shown a wide range of association of radionuclides, depending on sources, transformation perculiarities and radionuclide nature. Changes in speciation of¹³⁷Cs and⁹⁰Sr at various temperatures in the Chernobyl soil were analyzed. It was found that at 200°C–700°C a transformation of speciation of¹³⁷Cs took place and more available physico-chemical forms of Cs were formed. After heating at 900°C, up to 94% of¹³⁷Cs was found in the residual form and was not extractable even with 7 M HNO₃. Heating of the soil to 450°C and 900° C resulted in the formation of less available forms of⁹⁰Sr.     

Stilbene composite scintillators as detectors of fast neutrons emitted by a 252Cf source

The results of the measurements are presented of the relative efficiency ε for ²⁵²Cf fast neutron detection by composite detectors based on stilbene crystalline grains. The effects of the grain size and height of the composite detector on its scintillation properties were studied. It is shown that the efficiency of fast neutron detection of stilbene composite scintillators ranges up to 60% of that of bulk single crystals. The results are also presented for relative light output measurements of stilbene composite detectors irradiated by gamma photons of ¹³⁷Cs, as well as transmittance data of samples in the range of their transparency absorption.     

Conditioning the γ spectrometer for activity measurement at very high background

The application of a high purity Germanium (HPGe) γ spectrometer in determining the fuel element burnup in a future reactor is studied. The HPGe detector is exposed by a ⁶⁰Co source with varying irradiation rate from 10× 10³m s^-1 to 150× 10³m s^-1 to simulate the input counting rate in real reactor environment. A ¹³⁷Cs and a ¹⁵²Eu source are positioned at given distances to generate a certain event rate in the detector with the former being proposed as a labeling nuclide to measure the burnup of a fuel element. It is shown that both the energy resolution slightly increasing with the irradiation rate and the passthrough rate at high irradiation level match the requirement of the real application. The influence of the background is studied in the different parameter sets used in the specially developed procedure of background subtraction. It is demonstrated that with the typical input irradiation rate and ¹³⁷Cs intensity relevant to a deep burnup situation, the precision of the ¹³⁷Cs counting rate in the current experiment is consistently below 2.8%, indicating a promising feasibility of utilizing an HPGe detector in the burnup measurement in future bed-like reactors.     

Measurement of radiation energy by spectrometric systems based on uncooled silicon detectors

The results of measurements of radiation energy for single-channel detection systems based on uncooled silicon planar detectors and spectrometric readout electronics, developed at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology National Scientific Center, are presented. Radiation sources of ⁵⁵Fe, ²⁴¹Am, ⁵⁷Co, ¹³⁷Cs, and ^99MTc and characteristic X-ray radiation (CXR) are used in the experiments. The radiation energy in the range of E _γ = 3–140 keV is measured by a spectrometer based on a Si PIN detector. The energy resolution (full width at half maximum, FWHM) in this energy range changes with increasing photon energy from 0.97 to 1.3 keV. The CXR of calcium (K _α = 3.69 keV) is measured by a Si planar detector with an input aluminum foil. Emission lines in the energy range of E _γ = 0.04–0.662 MeV are measured by a CsI(Tl) scintillator-silicon PIN-photodiode detection system. The energy resolution of the spectrometer changes with quantum energy increasing from 22 to 70 keV. The CXR from cesium and iodine with K _α 31 and 28.6 keV, respectively, is recorded.