An in-situ gamma-ray spectrometer for the deep ocean

C Tsabaris; E G Androulakaki; S Alexakis; D L Patiris

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2018.08.024

An in-situ gamma-ray spectrometer for the deep ocean

Appl Radiat Isot. 2018 Dec:142:120-127. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2018.08.024. Epub 2018 Sep 10.

Authors

C Tsabaris¹, E G Androulakaki², S Alexakis², D L Patiris²

Affiliations

¹ Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, P.O. Box 712, GR-19013 Anavyssos, Greece. Electronic address: tsabaris@hcmr.gr.
² Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Oceanography, P.O. Box 712, GR-19013 Anavyssos, Greece.

PMID: 30278411
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2018.08.024

Abstract

A low resolution subsea gamma-ray spectrometer is developed for monitoring radioactivity in the deep ocean. The detection system provides quantitative results combining experimental and simulated data. The system is tested for pressures up to 456 10⁵ Pa and is demonstrated in the deep sea South of Crete (Greece) at a depth of 2700 m. The minimum detectable activity for ²¹⁴Bi considering a 7200 s measurement, was found 0.3 Bq/L due to the extremely low background contribution at high energies.

Keywords: Deep ocean; Marine radioactivity; Monte Carlo simulations; Subsea detectors.