Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Monte Carlo simulations for gamma-ray spectroscopy using bismuth nanoparticle-containing plastic scintillators with spectral subtraction

  • Taeseob Lim (School of Energy Systems Engineering, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Siwon Song (School of Energy Systems Engineering, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Seunghyeon Kim (School of Energy Systems Engineering, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Jae Hyung Park (School of Energy Systems Engineering, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Jinhong Kim (School of Energy Systems Engineering, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Cheol Ho Pyeon (Research Center for Safe Nuclear System, Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science, Kyoto University) ;
  • Bongsoo Lee (School of Energy Systems Engineering, Chung-Ang University)
  • Received : 2023.04.06
  • Accepted : 2023.05.22
  • Published : 2023.09.25
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Abstract

In this study, we used the Monte Carlo N-Particle program to simulate the gamma-ray spectra obtained from plastic scintillators holes filled with bismuth nanoparticles. We confirmed that the incorporation of bismuth nanoparticles into a plastic scintillator enhances its performance for gamma-ray spectroscopy using the subtraction method. The subtracted energy spectra obtained from the bismuth-nanoparticle-incorporated and the original plastic scintillator exhibit a distinct energy peak that does not appear in the corresponding original spectra. We varied the diameter and depth of the bismuth-filled holes to determine the optimal hole design for gamma-ray spectroscopy using the subtraction method. We evaluated the energy resolutions of the energy peaks in the gamma-ray spectra to estimate the effects of the bismuth nanoparticles and determine their optimum volume in the plastic scintillator. In addition, we calculated the peak-to-total ratio of the energy spectrum to evaluate the energy measuring limit of the bismuth nanoparticle-containing plastic scintillator using the subtraction method.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean Government (MSIT) (No. 2020M2D2A2062457, 2022M2D4A1084440) and the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korean Government (MOTIE) (No. 20201520300060).

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