Study the influences of the radionuclide depth distributions on the FEPE for the measurements of the soil activity using in situ HPGe gamma spectrometry

In this work, the influences of the soil densities and the radionuclide depth distributions(RDD) on the Full Energy Peak Efficiency (FEPE) calculation of the in-situ gamma rayspectrometer using the In Situ Object Counting Systems (ISOCS) software were studied. The data of the RDDs at the sites were investigated by using laboratory HPGe gamma spectrometer. Six different RDDs of 40K, 226Ra and 232Th were found at four studied sites with radionuclide deposition moving from surface to deeper positions. The results show that FEPE values vary strongly for the different RDDs, especially for the low gamma ray energies. Use of the uniform model for calculating FEPEs can result in noticeable errors from 29% to 101% for the realistic RDD of the exponential form (surfaceradionuclide deposition), negative variations from 14% to 30% for the realistic RDD of having a radionuclide deposition at the 30 cm depth, and negligible variations of less than 5 % for the realistic RDD of quasi uniform form in the range of gamma ray energies of interest.

Development of a semi-empirical calibration method by using a LaBr3(Ce) scintillation detector for NORM samples analyses

In this study, a semi-empirical calibration method for NORM samples measurement by using a LaBr3(Ce) scintillator was developed based on a combination of experimental gamma spectrometry measurements and MCNP-X simulations. The aim of this work is to provide us with full energy peak efficiency calibration curves in a wide photon energy range which is of particular importance when selected photon energies of 234Th, 214Pb, 214Bi, 228Ac, 208Tl and 226Ra are to be measured with accuracy.