Calibration of natural gamma-ray spectrometer facility at the erl

Abstract EN

Gamma-ray spectrometer facility at the Energy Research Laboratory (ERL) is used for the determination of natural radioactivity from potassium (40K), uranium (238U), and thorium (232Th) in soil, core, and various other industrial samples.

The facility consists of a 5"x5" Nal(Tl) detector and the electronic setup coupled to a PC-based data acquisition and analysis system.

The gamma-ray spectrometer facility was calibrated using 12 certified standard samples from IAEA (Vienna), NIST, and NBL (U.S.A.).

The sensitivity of the setup was found to be better than 1 ppm for U and Th and 150 ppm for K considering 100 g sample.

Linear calibration curves were established from measurements carried out for potassium, uranium, and thorium.