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Published on: January 30, 2020
A gamma-gamma coincidence/anticoincidence spectrometer for low-level cosmogenic (22)Na/(7)Be activity ratio
Weihua Zhang1, Kurt Ungar1, Matthew Stukel1
1Radiation Protection Bureau of Health Canada, 775 Brookfield Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1C1, Canada.
Abstract:
In this study, a digital gamma-gamma coincidence/anticoincidence spectrometer was developed and examined for low-level cosmogenic (22)Na and (7)Be in air-filter sample monitoring. The spectrometer consists of two bismuth germanate scintillators (BGO) and an XIA LLC Digital Gamma Finder (DGF)/Pixie-4 software and card package. The spectrometer design allows a more selective measurement of (22)Na with a significant background reduction by gamma-gamma coincidence events processing. Hence, the system provides a more sensitive way to quantify trace amounts of (22)Na than normal high resolution gamma spectrometry providing a critical limit of 3 mBq within a 20 h count. The use of a list-mode data acquisition technique enabled simultaneous determination of (22)Na and (7)Be activity concentrations using a single measurement by coincidence and anticoincidence mode respectively.
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