In-situ γ-ray analysis of ground surface radioactivity using portable HPGe γ spectrometer

Sci Rep. 2022 Jun 8;12(1):9418. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-13770-5.

Abstract

As essential high-end equipment for nuclear emergency monitoring, the portable HPGe γ spectrometer currently lacks supporting in-situ measurement methods, limiting its role and value in emergency missions. For this practical problem, this paper studies the measurement of ground surface radioactivity by portable HPGe γ spectrometer in nuclear emergency monitoring in view of the particularity of nuclear emergency source items. Firstly, the detection efficiency of point sources at different horizontal distances when the spectrometer is installed at the height of 1 m from the center of the detector to the ground is calculated. Secondly, the concept of effective contribution distance is defined and analyzed. Thirdly, the point source detection efficiency is obtained using the numerical integration method of calculation. Integrate to calculate the detection efficiency of the surface source, and then calculate the radioactive surface activity of the surface. Finally, the effectiveness of the method is verified through experiments.