M.M. Rapetsoa¹ , D. Kotze²

¹South African Nuclear Energy Corporation Ltd (NECSA)
²South African Nuclear Energy Corp

Abstract:

Accurate gamma spectrometric measurements depended on correct values of several parameters. One of these is corrections for true summing coincidences of the gamma radiation emitted by the assayed radionuclides. Coincidence summing correction factors are nuclide specific and should be applied to relevant measured peak areas to obtain accurate activity results. In the study several radionuclides for CTBTO International Data Centre (IDC) event screening from particulate samples were analysed looking at summing coincidence effects. These samples contain fission and activation products measured using BEGe detector. Correction factors are obtained by software based on Monte Carlo calculations. A comparison of coincidence summing correction factors were made between an available commercial software package (LabSOCS) and a specifically developed software package (VGSL), developed by Radionuclide Development Unit of the IDC. VGSL is designed to provide quality assessment of the data delivered by eighty (80) international monitoring stations around the world to monitor nuclide emissions after nuclear tests, in the atmosphere or underground. The results of the coincidence summing correction factors from relevant radionuclides of particulate samples indicate the accuracy of the activity results, if the factors generated by LabSOCS are identical or may be complemented by VGSL software factors.