Clarification of the calculation of minimum detectable activity in low-level radioactivity measurements

K B Lee; Jong Man Lee; Tae Soon Park; Sang Han Lee; Meeyoung Jeong; Min-Kie Lee

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.11.043

Clarification of the calculation of minimum detectable activity in low-level radioactivity measurements

Appl Radiat Isot. 2016 Mar:109:449-451. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.11.043. Epub 2015 Nov 30.

Authors

K B Lee¹, Jong Man Lee², Tae Soon Park², Sang Han Lee², Meeyoung Jeong², Min-Kie Lee²

Affiliations

¹ Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-340, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: lee@kriss.re.kr.
² Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-340, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 26653209
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2015.11.043

Abstract

We discuss a new method to determine the value of minimum detectable activity (MDA) in low-level measurements. The method is based on the Feldman-Cousins unified approach which effectively combines the construction of confidence intervals with the determination of the decision threshold and MDA. The new method requires a single probability to be pre-specified for the determination of MDA as well as decision threshold and confidence interval, in contrast with the ISO 11929 method requiring three probabilities.

Keywords: Detection limit; Likelihood ratio ordering principle; MDA; Unified approach.