PASS, an extended-range Ge spectrometer for radionuclide analysis via L X-, γ-ray spectrometry

https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-9002(94)91614-4Get rights and content

Abstract

PASS (Photon Analysis Spectrometer System) is a pulser-equipped, extended range, thin-window, Ge detector spectrometer that is capable of automatically measuring radionuclide activity concentrations in up to 100 samples per day at remediation sites. No operator intervention is required after the counting queue for the sample changer has been setup. Actinides are measured from L X-rays following α decay such as APuA−4U and 241Am → 237Np and from low-energy γ-rays by spectral component analysis. Activation, fission products and a few actinides (e.g., 241Am) are measured from their characteristic γ-ray emission by fitting the associated peaks. Pulses from a precision, dual-energy pulser can be used to determine the energy scale, provide documentation of the data quality, and provide a correction for pulse pileup. Soil, smear, and air particulate samples can be counted. For an 11-g sample counted for 15 min the lower-limits-of-detection are 50, 1, and 5 pCi/g for plutonium, americium, and several γ-ray emitting radionuclides, respectively.

References (14)

  • Method of Photon Spectral Analysis

    (1992)
  • C.V. McIsaac et al.

    U.S. DOE report EGG-WTD-10898

    (1993)
  • C.V. McIsaac et al.

    U.S. DOE report EGG-WTD-10935

    (1993)
  • R.J. Gehrke, K.D. Watts and C.R. Amaro, presented at Conf. on Methods and Applications of Radioanalytical Chemistry and...
  • H. Nitsche et al.

    J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem.

    (1992)
  • G. Trujillo et al.

    U.S. DOE report LA-8376-LLWM

    (1980)
  • J.S. Sherman et al.

    IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. NS-27

    (1980)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (2)

View full text