The effect of source chemical composition on the self-attenuation corrections for low-energy gamma-rays in soil samples

To study the influence of the source's chemical composition on the self-attenuation corrections during the activity quantification of low-energy gamma-ray emitters (< 60 keV) in soil samples, we conducted a Monte Carlo-based hypothetical proficiency test in which different analytical laborat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied radiation and isotopes 2010-02, Vol.68 (2), p.360-363
Main Authors: Carrazana González, J., Cornejo Díaz, N., Jurado Vargas, M., Capote Ferrera, E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Efficiency calibration
Gamma Rays
Gamma-ray spectrometry
HpGe detectors
Monte Carlo Method
Radiation Dosage
Radiometry - methods
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To study the influence of the source's chemical composition on the self-attenuation corrections during the activity quantification of low-energy gamma-ray emitters (< 60 keV) in soil samples, we conducted a Monte Carlo-based hypothetical proficiency test in which different analytical laboratories analyze a soil sample, assuming the same density but a different chemical composition. The bias in the activity values was between 4% and 70%, with more than 50% of these results being unacceptable. Our work shows that collecting the detailed chemical composition of the samples is an essential issue to be considered by analytical laboratories that use the Monte Carlo method for the calculation of self-attenuation corrections.
ISSN:0969-8043
1872-9800
DOI:10.1016/j.apradiso.2009.10.013