Study of the applicability of SrI(Eu) scintillation detector to in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry

Takeyasu, Masanori ; Mikami, Satoshi   ; Ando, Masaki  ; Hokama, Tomonori 

As part of the research aimed at developing a detector to easily perform in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry, the applicability of a SrI(Eu) scintillation detector to in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry was investigated. In this study, the characteristics of the SrI(Eu) detector were evaluated for in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry. Intercomparison measurements of in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry using the SrI(Eu) detector and Ge semiconductor detectors were conducted, and the applicability of the SrI(Eu) detector was examined. To characterize the SrI(Eu) detector, the peak efficiency of the SrI(Eu) detector was measured with respect to the change of incident gamma-ray energy. The angular dependence of the peak efficiency of the SrI(Eu) detector was also measured. As the result of the intercomparison measurement of in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry, the radionuclides quantified by Ge detectors were Cs-134, Cs-137, Pb-214, Bi-214, Tl-208, Ac-228 and K-40. On the other hand, those by SrI(Eu) detector were only Cs-137 and K-40 which had relatively high radioactive intensity. The deposition density of Cs-137 and the concentration of K-40 in soil measured by the SrI(Eu) detector showed relatively good agreements with those by Ge detectors. From these results, it was suggested that the in-situ measurement using a SrI(Eu) detector was available for radionuclides which had high radioactive intensity and whose gamma-ray peaks were not interfered by those of other radionuclides in gamma-ray spectrum. During an accident at nuclear power plant, various radionuclides are released into the environment, but radionuclides with short half-life decayed and radionuclides with long half-life only exist at mid-to-long term environmental monitoring situations, when in-situ gamma-ray spectrometry using a SrI(Eu) detector is applicable.