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Improving the efficiency in the detection of gamma activities in environmental soil samples: influence of the granulometry and soil density

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Abstract

In this work the efficiency calibration curves for a HPGe gamma detector were obtained from soil standards prepared in our laboratory using typical Argentine regional soils. They were made in pot and Petri dish geometries, for different soil granulometries, by using two mixed nuclide reference solutions manufactured by Eckert & Ziegler and provided by the IAEA. The efficiency curves obtained were tested with the reference materials IAEA-375, IAEA-447, CNEA-81-11 as well as the soil sample used in the IAEA-2013 proficiency test. The results allow to improve the quality in the analytical measurements on the content of radionuclides in local soils.

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Figure taken from Genie 2000 software [16]

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Universidad Nacional de San Luis (UNSL), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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  1. Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis – CONICET, Ejército de los Andes 950, D5700HHW, San Luis, Argentina

    R. Torres Astorga, M. G. Rizzotto & H. Velasco

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  1. R. Torres Astorga
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  2. M. G. Rizzotto
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  3. H. Velasco
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Correspondence to M. G. Rizzotto.

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Torres Astorga, R., Rizzotto, M.G. & Velasco, H. Improving the efficiency in the detection of gamma activities in environmental soil samples: influence of the granulometry and soil density. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 321, 805–814 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06643-1

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