Estimation of I-131 concentration using time history of pulse height distribution at monitoring post and detector response for radionuclide in plume

Hirayama, Hideo*; Kawasaki, Masatsugu ; Matsumura, Hiroshi*; Okura, Takehisa ; Namito, Yoshihito*; Sanami, Toshiya*; Taki, Mitsumasa; Oishi, Tetsuya ; Yoshizawa, Michio  

A method of deducing the I-131 concentration in a radioactive plume from the time history of peak count rates determined from pulse height spectra obtained from an NaI(Tl)scintillation detector employed as a detector of a monitoring post was presented. The concentrations of I-131 in the plumes were estimated from the count rates using the calculated response of the NaI(Tl) detector with egs5 for a model of a plume uniformly containing I-131. This method was applied to the data from the monitoring posts at Nuclear Science Research Institutes of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The estimated time history variation of I-131 concentrations in plumes was in fair agreement with those measured directly by an air sampling method. The difference was less than a factor of 4 for plumes that arrived on March 15 and March 21, indicating relatively high I-131 concentrations among the plumes studied in this work.