Abstract
Cosmic radiation contributes significantly towards the background radiation measured by a gamma-spectrometer. A novel cosmic veto gamma-spectrometer has been developed that provides a mean background reduction of 54.5%. The system consists of plastic scintillation plates operated in time-stamp mode to detect coincident muon interactions within an HPGe gamma-spectrometer. The instrument is easily configurable and provides improved sensitivity for radionuclides indicative of nuclear weapons tests and reactor incidents, including 140Ba, 95Zr, 99Mo, 141Ce, 147Nd, 131I, 134Cs and 137Cs. This has been demonstrated for Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty applications to obtain the required 140Ba MDA of 24 mBq within 2 days counting. Analysis of an air filter sample collected during the Fukushima incident indicates improved sensitivity compared to conventional gamma-spectrometers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brodzinski RL, Reeves JH, Avigone FT, Miley HS (1988) Achieving ultralow background in a germanium spectrometer. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 124(2):513–521
Brodzinski RL, Reeves JH, Avigone FT, Miley HS (1990) Further reduction of radioactive backgrounds in ultra sensitive germanium spectrometers. Nucl Instrum Meth A 292:337–342
Busto J, Dassie D, Hubert F, Hubert Ph, Isaac MC, Izac C, Jullian S, Leccia F, Mennrath P (1992) Ultra low radioactivity measurements in the Frejus Underground Laboratory. Nucl Phys B-Proc Suppl 28A:425–429
Reeves JH, Arthur RJ (1988) Anticosmic-shielded ultralow-background germanium detector systems for analysis of bulk environmental samples. J Radioanal Nucl Chem Article 124(2):435–447
Heusser G (1991) Studies of gamma-ray background with a low level germanium spectrometer. Nucl Instrum Meth B 58:79–84
Heusser G (1994) Background in ionising radiation detection. In: Garcia-Leon M, Garcia-Tenoria R (eds) Low-level measurements of radioactivity in the environment. World Scientific, Singapore
Heusser G (1995) Low-radioactivity background techniques. Ann Rev Nucl Sci 45:453–590
Vojtyla P, Beer J, Stavina P (1994) Experimental and simulated cosmic muon induced background of a Ge spectrometer equipped with a top side anticoincidence proportional chamber. Nucl Instrum Meth B 86:380–386
Semkow TM, Parekh PP, Schwenker CD, Khan AJ, Bari A, Colaresi JF, Tench OK, David G, Guryn W (2002) Low-background gamma spectrometry for environmental radioactivity. Appl Radiat Isot 57:213–223
Povinec PP, Comanducci JF, Levy-Palomo I (2004) IAEA-MEL’s underground counting laboratory in Monaco: background characteristics of HPGe detectors with anti-cosmic shielding. Appl Radiat Isot 61:85–93
Schroettner T, Schwaigerm M, Kindl P (2004) Optimization of an active cosmic veto shielding. Appl Radiat Isot 61:133–138
Burnett JL, Davies AV (2011) Investigating the time resolution of a compact multidimensional gamma-spectrometer. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 288(3):699–703
L’Annunziata M (2003) Handbook of radioactivity analysis. Academic Press, California
Acknowledgments
Thank you to John McLarty from AWE for his software assistance. Thank you to Stephanie Vallet-Thomas from Canberra for project support. Thank you to Gustavo Haquin from the Israel Radionuclide Laboratory for advice using BC408 plastic scintillators.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Burnett, J.L., Davies, A.V. Development of a cosmic veto gamma-spectrometer. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 292, 1007–1010 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-011-1566-0
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-011-1566-0