Using Monte Carlo methods to estimate efficiencies of gamma-ray emitters with complex geometries

In the event of a radioactive disaster, one of the biggest tasks is to estimate the radiation dosage received by people to determine the actions of emergency response teams. The first and the most rapid screening method of internally contaminated people in case of an emergency response is to perform in-vivo measurements for gamma-emitters. Development of virtual gamma-ray calibration techniques will be critical for emergency invivo measurements because there are inadequate numbers of phantom types to approximate all body shapes and sizes. The purpose of this project was to find a reliable way to estimate the efficiency of gamma-systems using Monte Carlo computations, and to validate that efficiency by making measurements of a standard geometry. Two geometries, a 5-ml ampoule and a Bottle Manikin Absorption (BOMAB) phantom head, spiked with ⁶⁷Ga were used as standard geometries. The radioactive objects are measured at a number of distances from a high purity germanium (HPGe) detector, and the experimental efficiency for our gamma-spectrometry system is determined. The same set of experiments was then modeled using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP). The conclusion of this project is that computationally derived detector efficiency calibrations can be comparable to those derived experimentally from physical standards.