CANBERRA Benelux Training and Technical Services

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Purpose

This course provides the student with an in-depth review of the principles and practices of gamma-ray and alpha ray spectroscopy and radionuclide identification. It is intended for health physics and radiochemistry personnel who have some experience in gamma counting and want to improve their knowledge of the methods of gamma- and alpha spectroscopy. It is recommended for personnel who are responsible for operating gamma- and alphaspectroscopy systems or reviewing of the results from these systems.

To do this, the course begins with the fundamental principles of nuclear structure and decay, moves through the theory of gamma, beta and alpha interaction with matter and detection theory. At that point the applications of gamma- and alpha-spectroscopy, nuclide identification and system troubleshooting are discussed. This course is designed primarily for germanium detector gamma spectroscopy, although many of the topics are also applicable to scintillation (NaI(Tl)) detectors and PIPS detectors.

To make the theory more interesting, a real gamma- or alphaspectroscopy chain will be available to see the immediate relationship between the theory and the practical use of it.

The theory of nuclear physics presented in this training course is only mentioned when it has a direct relationship to spectroscopy. Only those parts of the nuclear physics are discussed when they are relevant to gamma or alpha spectroscopy. The course emphasizes the use of fundamental principles of physics to explain features found in spectra, and aid in the interpretation of spectra.

Additional topics of special interest may be covered depending upon student interest.

Course Content

IONIZING RADIATION

• Origin, types, properties (alpha, beta, gamma, X-ray)
• Interaction with material
• parent daughter decay and effects on interpretation of gamma spectroscopy results

RADIATION DETECTORS

• Gasdetectors: Ionization, Proportional counters, Geiger Mueller, BF3, He, Fission chambers, Plastic....)
• Principle
• Properties
• Practical use

RADIATION DETECTORS for Spectroscopy

• Types, principle, properties and use of:
• Germanium detectors
• NaI detectors
• PIPS detectors
• detector resolution, efficiency

COUNTING ELECTRONICS

• Use, properties, tuning
• Limitations and problems for high countrate applications
• Digital signal processing

COUNTING SYSTEMS

• Single channel analyzer (SCA)
• Multi channel analyzer (MCA)
• Liquid scintillation counting (LSC)
• Operation, use, calibration, properties and applications

CALIBRATIONS

• Energy
• Resolution
• Low tail
• High tail
• Efficiency, requirements for a good efficiency calibration
• Advanced techniques for efficiency calibrations

SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Build up of a spectrum
• Components in a spectrum
• Interpretation of a spectrum
• Problems with interpretation of spectra
• Random summing effects
• Cascade summing effects
• Background effects in a gamma spectrum
• Contributions to background in a gamma spectrum

EXERCISES

• Calculations of efficiency
• Calculations of activity
• Setting up a Germanium based spectroscopy system
• Setting up a NaI based spectroscopy system
• Fine tuning the system
• Troubleshooting

Additional Information

Duration: 4 days
Maximum 10 people, Minimum 5 people.
Language: English
Training manual included
Requirements: calculator
Available equipment: Genie-2000 computer + 1 complete detector set for hands-on and trouble shooting (NaI and/or HPGe detector).

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