U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Automated Internal Energy Calibration by OnTheFly for AGR-5/6/7
Abstract
The software program, OnTheFly, was developed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to keep high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors energy calibrated during very long experiments. Over time, spectra produced from a HPGe detector will slowly stretch or contract, causing the energy calibration to change. If the energy calibration changes too much, it will cause energy lines to be misidentified. The higher the energy line the more affected they are by this change. OnTheFly tracks and adjusts the slowly changing energy calibrations so the energy lines will not be misidentified. OnTheFly was used with the Fission Product Monitoring System (FPMS) during the AGR-5/6/7 irradiation experiment performed at INL’s Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). Five HPGe detectors were used to monitor the five capsules in AGR-5/6/7. There were also two extra HPGe detectors that were maintained as spares. Before each ATR cycle of the experiment, the HPGe detectors were energy calibrated with a thorium radioactive source. During each ATR cycle, each detector would acquire data for 8 hours and then reset and acquire data for another 8 hours. After each 8-hour run, the spectra would be saved and analyzed autonomously. The results were then read by OnTheFly and used to produce a new energy calibrationmore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1782818
- Report Number(s):
- INL/EXT-21-62709-Rev000
TRN: US2216051
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- Resource Type:
- Technical Report
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; OnTheFly; high-purity germanium detectors; energy calibration; gamma-ray spectroscopy
Citation Formats
Reber, Edward L., Scates, Dawn M., and Fronk, Ryan G.. Automated Internal Energy Calibration by OnTheFly for AGR-5/6/7. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.2172/1782818.
Reber, Edward L., Scates, Dawn M., & Fronk, Ryan G.. Automated Internal Energy Calibration by OnTheFly for AGR-5/6/7. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1782818
Reber, Edward L., Scates, Dawn M., and Fronk, Ryan G.. 2021.
"Automated Internal Energy Calibration by OnTheFly for AGR-5/6/7". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1782818. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1782818.
@article{osti_1782818,
title = {Automated Internal Energy Calibration by OnTheFly for AGR-5/6/7},
author = {Reber, Edward L. and Scates, Dawn M. and Fronk, Ryan G.},
abstractNote = {The software program, OnTheFly, was developed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to keep high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors energy calibrated during very long experiments. Over time, spectra produced from a HPGe detector will slowly stretch or contract, causing the energy calibration to change. If the energy calibration changes too much, it will cause energy lines to be misidentified. The higher the energy line the more affected they are by this change. OnTheFly tracks and adjusts the slowly changing energy calibrations so the energy lines will not be misidentified. OnTheFly was used with the Fission Product Monitoring System (FPMS) during the AGR-5/6/7 irradiation experiment performed at INL’s Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). Five HPGe detectors were used to monitor the five capsules in AGR-5/6/7. There were also two extra HPGe detectors that were maintained as spares. Before each ATR cycle of the experiment, the HPGe detectors were energy calibrated with a thorium radioactive source. During each ATR cycle, each detector would acquire data for 8 hours and then reset and acquire data for another 8 hours. After each 8-hour run, the spectra would be saved and analyzed autonomously. The results were then read by OnTheFly and used to produce a new energy calibration for each detector. The new energy calibrations were compared to the current energy calibrations and, if certain criteria were met, the new energy calibration would replace the current energy calibration. The new energy calibration would be used for future spectra. OnTheFly was run at least every couple of days but could be run as much as after each 8-hour run. OnTheFly kept the spectra energy calibrated during the ATR cycles over the 2 years and 5 months that the AGR-5/6/7 experiment ran.},
doi = {10.2172/1782818},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1782818},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2021},
month = {5}
}