• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.295-300
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• 2015

The precise determination of the activity for each radionuclide in environmental samples requires the self-absorption correction factor. In this research, we derived the self-absorption correction factor for three p-type high purity germanium detectors using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX. These detectors have different characteristics such as crystal diameter, height and size of the core. We compared the calculated full-energy peak efficiency with the experimental value using a standard sample with $1g/m^3$ density and verified the modeling. We simulated the dependency of the full-energy peak efficiency on the 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, 1.0, 1.2 and $1.5g/m^3$ samples and obtained the corresponding self-absorption correction factor. The self-absorption correction factors calculated for the three detectors differ by less than 1% over most of the energy range and sample densities considered. This indicates that the self-absorption correction factors are independent of the crystal characteristics of HPGe detector.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.2317-2323
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• 2024

Medical linear accelerators with an energy of 8 MV or higher are radiated owing to photonuclear reactions and neutron capture reactions. It is necessary to quantitatively evaluate the concentration of radioactive isotopes when replacing or disposing them. HPGe detectors are commonly used to identify isotopes and measure radioactivity. However, because the detection efficiency is generally calibrated using a standard material with a density of 1.0 g/cm³, a self-absorption effect occurs if the density of the measured material is high. In this study, self-absorption correction factors were calculated for tungsten, lead, copper, and SUS-303, which are the main materials of medical linear accelerator head parts, for each gamma-ray energy using MCNP 6.2 code. The self-absorption effect was more pronounced as the energy of the emitted gamma rays decreased and the density of the measured materials increased. These correction factors were applied to the radioactivity measurements of the in-built and portable HPGe detectors. Furthermore, compared to the surface dose rate measured by the survey meter, the accuracy of the measurements of radioactivity improved by an average of 124.31 and 100.53 % for inbuilt and portable HPGe detectors, respectively. The results showed a good agreement, with an average difference of 3.70 and 5.24 %.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2006

A self-absorption correction is important issue for the exact radioactivity determination of gamma emitting radionuclides in environmental samples which have the range of apparent density from $0.3g/cm^3$ up to $1.5g/cm^3$. In this paper, a practical and simple method without radioactive standard solutions having various densities is proposed for the self-absorption correction of environmental samples by a developed outside beaker surrounding Marinelli beaker. For the densities of 0.8, 1.0, $1.3g/cm^3$, the corrected efficiencies by the new method and the measured those by radioactive standard solutions of the three densities showed good agreement within 4 %.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.531-539
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• 2023

Self-absorption is the most important factor affecting the accuracy of gamma spectroscopy measurements in environmental samples. In particular, it is affected by other factors such as the chemical composition of the sample, geometric shape, thickness, density, atomic number, distance between the sample and detector, energy of the emitted gamma photon, and humidity coefficient or percentage in the sample. To test the calibration method, a 450 ml CRM standard source (9 nuclide) Marinelli beaker was used. Five soil samples among environmental samples were measured by density by applying the corrected values. Therefore, it can be seen that the self-absorption value is more effective for somewhat large and low photon energy. In the case of environmental samples, it was confirmed that the overall energy peak efficiency through self-absorption of the source greatly depends on the density of the sample.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.523-529
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• 2022

Gamma spectroscopy analysis is widely used for radioactivity analysis, and various factors are required for radioactivity calculations. Among the factors, K3 for each sample significantly influences the results. The previous methods of correcting the self-absorption effect include a computational simulation method and a method that requires making a CRM(certified reference material) identical to the sample medium. However, the above methods have limitations when used in small institutions because they require specialized program utilization skills or high manufacturing costs and large facilities. The aim of this study is to develop a method that can be easily and rapidly applied to radioactivity analysis. After filling the beaker with water, we placed the radiation source in a uniform position and used the measured value as the benchmark. Next, a correction factor was derived based on the difference in the radiation source count of the benchmark and the identically measured sample. For the radiation source, Eu-152, which emits a broad range of energy within the measurement range of gamma rays, and Cs-134 and Cs-137, which are indicator nuclides in environmental radiation analysis, were used. The sample was selected within the density range of 0.26-2.11 g/cm³, and the correction factor was derived by calculating the count difference of each sample compared to the reference value of water. This study presents a faster and more convenient method than the existing research methods for determining the self-absorption effect correction, which has become increasingly necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.503-510
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• 2020

Concrete is one of the most widely used materials as the shielding structures of a nuclear facilities. It is also the most generated radioactive waste in quantity while dismantling facilities. Since the concrete captures neutrons and generates various radionuclides, radiation measurement and analysis of the sample was fulfilled prior to dismantle facilities. An HPGe detector is used in general for the radiation measurement, and effective correction factors such as geometrical correction factor, self-absorption correction, and absolute detector efficiency have to be applied to the measured data to decide exact radioactivity of the sample. Correction factors are obtained by measuring data using a standard source with the same geometry and chemical states as the sample under the same measurement conditions. However, it is very difficult to prepare standard concrete sources because concrete is limited in pretreatment due to various constituent materials and high density. In addition, the concrete sample obtained by core drill is a volumetric source, which requires geometric correction for sample diameter and self absorption correction for sample density. Therefore in recent years, many researchers are working on the calculation of effective correction factors using Monte carlo simulation instead of measuring them using a standard source. In this study we calculated, using Geant4, one of the Monte carlo codes, the correction factors for the various diameter and density of the concrete core sample at the gamma ray energy emitted from the nuclides ¹⁵²Eu and ⁶⁰Co, which are the most generated in radioactive concrete.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.337-343
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• 2021

In this work, self-absorption correction factor related to the variation of the composition and the density of soil samples were evaluated using the p-type HPGe detector. The validated MCNP5 simulation model of this detector was used to evaluate its Full Energy Peak Efficiency (FEPE) under the variation of the composition and the density of the analysed samples. The results indicates that FEPE calculation of low gamma ray is affected by the composition and the density of soil samples. The self-absorption correction factors for different gamma-ray energies which was fitted as a function of FEPEs via density and energy and fitting parameters as polynomial function for the logarithm neper of gamma ray energy help to calculate quickly the detection efficiency of detector. Factor Analysis for the influence of the element composition in analysed samples on the FEPE indicates the FEPE distribution changes from non-metal to metal groups when the gamma ray energy increases from 92 keV to 238 keV. At energies above 238 keV, the FEPE primarily depends only on the metal elements and is significantly affected by aluminium and silicon composition in soil samples.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.427-434
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• 1994

For the analysis of the relatively volatile lead in blood by GFAAS(graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer), one can not raise the ashing temperature beyond certain degree due to the elevation of the baseline. Previous investigations showed that background is stabilized when the ashing temperature is raised to $700^{\circ}C$ using a matrix modifier. In this study, same result was obtained at the ashing temperature of around $550^{\circ}C$ even when the matrix modifier is not used and only Triton X-100 is used as a diluent, on an instrument which is equipped with both temperature and current controller(Shimadzu, AA-6501S) and thus the temperature control is fast and accurate. Background correction methods of $D_2$ arc and SR(self reversal) were reviewed. The results show that the absorbance is higher for the $D_2$ arc method, but the background correction is higher for the SR method.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.605-611
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• 2017

The structure of the actual detector was computed using the code of the PENELOPE. Using the standard mixed sources (450, 1,000 ml), compare the effectiveness of each energy according to various densities and height of the PENELOPE computer simulation, and calculate the effectiveness of the various environmental specimens and apply them to various environmental specimens to determine the lower limit. The values obtained by the obtained value were obtained by applying the obtained efficiency to the actual environmental specimens and obtaining the lower limit values. The density correction factor is 1.155 g of the density correction factor of $0.4g/cm^3$ (59.54keV), 1.153 (661 keV), $1.06g/cm^3$ 1.064 (1,836.04keV), 1.03, and 1.033. It was confirmed that the radioactivity concentration of environmental samples decreased as the amount of specimen was measured increases, and the MDA value decreased as time measured increases.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.228-233
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• 2013

It has been continuously generated the requirement for the replacement of the main components such as a steam generator due to the deterioration of the nuclear power plant all around the world. Also, a large amount of radioactive metal was generated during the decommissioning in a short period. It is required to make an accurate measurement of the residual radioactivity for recycling the metal waste for releasing from regulatory control. In planning the measurement procedures, the influence of geometry, self-absorption, density and other relevant factors on the representativeness of the measurements should be considered for the decommissioning metal waste. In this study, the method for measurement procedures, the source term evaluation, the ways to secure representative samples, the measurement device for wide area and the self-absorption correction factors for different density were evaluated. The metal samples for measurement were prepared for securing the simple geometry and representative by melting process. The developed correction method for measuring the radioactivity a variety density of metal waste could improve the reliability of the evaluation results for clearance.