Deconvolution of mixed gamma emitters using peak parameters
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
When evaluating samples containing mixtures of nuclides using gamma spectroscopy the situation sometimes arises where the nuclides present have photon emissions that cannot be resolved by the detector. An example of this is mixtures of {sup 241}Am and plutonium that have L x-ray emissions with slightly different energies which cannot be resolved using a high-purity germanium detector. It is possible to deconvolute the americium L x-rays from those plutonium based on the {sup 241}Am 59.54 keV photon. However, this requires accurate knowledge of the relative emission yields. Also, it often results in high uncertainties in the plutonium activity estimate due to the americium yields being approximately an order of magnitude greater than those for plutonium. In this work, an alternative method of determining the relative fraction of plutonium in mixtures of {sup 241}Am and {sup 239}Pu based on L x-ray peak location and shape parameters is investigated. The sensitivity and accuracy of the peak parameter method is compared to that for conventional peak decovolution.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1047138
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-11-00340; LA-UR-11-340; TRN: US1203865
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Health Physics Society Midyear Topical Meeting ; February 7, 2011 ; Charleston, SC, USA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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