Kurt Ungar

International challenge to predict the impact of radioxenon releases from medical isotope production on a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty sampling station.

The International Monitoring System (IMS) is part of the verification regime for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO). At entry-into-force, half of the 80 radionuclide stations will be able to measure concentrations of several radioactive xenon isotopes produced in nuclear explosions, and then the full network may be populated with xenon monitoring afterward. An understanding of natural and man-made radionuclide backgrounds can be used in accordance with the provisions of the treaty (such as event screening criteria in Annex 2 to the Protocol of the Treaty) for the effective implementation of the verification regime. Fission-based production of (99)Mo for medical purposes also generates nuisance radioxenon isotopes that are usually vented to the atmosphere. One of the ways to account for the effect emissions from medical isotope production has on radionuclide samples from the IMS is to use stack monitoring data, if they are available, and atmospheric transport modeling. Recently, individuals from seven nations participated in a challenge exercise that used atmospheric transport modeling to predict the time-history of (133)Xe concentration measurements at the IMS radionuclide station in Germany using stack monitoring data from a medical isotope production facility in Belgium. Participants received only stack monitoring data and used the atmospheric transport model and meteorological data of their choice. Some of the models predicted the highest measured concentrations quite well. A model comparison rank and ensemble analysis suggests that combining multiple models may provide more accurate predicted concentrations than any single model. None of the submissions based only on the stack monitoring data predicted the small measured concentrations very well. Modeling of sources by other nuclear facilities with smaller releases than medical isotope production facilities may be important in understanding how to discriminate those releases from releases from a nuclear explosion.

Bayesian Inference for Source Reconstruction: A Real-World Application

This paper applies a Bayesian probabilistic inferential methodology for the reconstruction of the location and emission rate from an actual contaminant source (emission from the Chalk River Laboratories medical isotope production facility) using a small number of activity concentration measurements of a noble gas (Xenon-133) obtained from three stations that form part of the International Monitoring System radionuclide network. The sampling of the resulting posterior distribution of the source parameters is undertaken using a very efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo technique that utilizes a multiple-try differential evolution adaptive Metropolis algorithm with an archive of past states. It is shown that the principal difficulty in the reconstruction lay in the correct specification of the model errors (both scale and structure) for use in the Bayesian inferential methodology. In this context, two different measurement models for incorporation of the model error of the predicted concentrations are considered. The performance of both of these measurement models with respect to their accuracy and precision in the recovery of the source parameters is compared and contrasted.

Monte Carlo simulation of a PhosWatch detector using Geant4 for xenon isotope beta-gamma coincidence spectrum profile and detection efficiency calculations.

A simulation tool has been developed using the Geant4 Toolkit to simulate a PhosWatch single channel beta-gamma coincidence detection system consisting of a CsI(Tl)/BC404 Phoswich well detector and pulse shape analysis algorithms implemented digital signal processor. The tool can be used to simulate the detectors response for all the gamma rays and beta particles emitted from (135)Xe, (133m)Xe, (133)Xe, (131m)Xe and (214)Pb. Two- and three-dimensional beta-gamma coincidence spectra from the PhosWatch detector can be produced using the simulation tool. The accurately simulated spectra could be used to calculate system coincidence detection efficiency for each xenon isotope, the corrections for the interference from the various spectral components from radon and xenon isotopes, and system gain calibration. Also, it can generate two- and three-dimensional xenon reference spectra to test beta-gamma coincidence spectral deconvolution analysis software.

Testing of an automatic outdoor gamma ambient dose-rate surveillance system in Tokyo and its calibration using measured deposition after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

An in-situ fixed point radioactivity surveillance network has been developed at the Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada. The network consists of a number of spectrometric NaI(Tl) detectors measuring, in real-time, ambient gamma dose-rate. The present paper describes the gamma dose-rate monitoring by one detector installed at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo during the Fukushima nuclear accident. Soil samples were collected for the measurement of fallout fission products inventories at each location where the NaI(Tl) detector was installed. The gamma-ray attenuation by the soil matrix was estimated by the information on the depth distribution of (137)Cs activities. The study demonstrated that the gamma dose-rates measured by the field NaI(Tl) spectrometric method agreed well with the laboratory results estimated by the inventories of fallout fission products deposited in the soil and the vertical distribution of (137)Cs in the soil.

Quantification of 235U and 238U activity concentrations for undeclared nuclear materials by a digital gamma–gamma coincidence spectroscopy

The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of verifying depleted uranium (DU), natural uranium (NU), low enriched uranium (LEU) and high enriched uranium (HEU) by a developed digital gamma-gamma coincidence spectroscopy. The spectroscopy consists of two NaI(Tl) scintillators and XIA LLC Digital Gamma Finder (DGF)/Pixie-4 software and card package. The results demonstrate that the spectroscopy provides an effective method of (235)U and (238)U quantification based on the count rate of their gamma-gamma coincidence counting signatures. The main advantages of this approach over the conventional gamma spectrometry include the facts of low background continuum near coincident signatures of (235)U and (238)U, less interference from other radionuclides by the gamma-gamma coincidence counting, and region-of-interest (ROI) imagine analysis for uranium enrichment determination. Compared to conventional gamma spectrometry, the method offers additional advantage of requiring minimal calibrations for (235)U and (238)U quantification at different sample geometries.

Beta-gamma coincidence counting efficiency and energy resolution optimization by Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations for a phoswich well detector.

A single-channel phoswich well detector has been assessed and analysed in order to improve beta-gamma coincidence measurement sensitivity of (131m)Xe and (133m)Xe. This newly designed phoswich well detector consists of a plastic cell (BC-404) embedded in a CsI(Tl) crystal coupled to a photomultiplier tube (PMT). It can be used to distinguish 30.0-keV X-ray signals of (131m)Xe and (133m)Xe using their unique coincidence signatures between the conversion electrons (CEs) and the 30.0-keV X-rays. The optimum coincidence efficiency signal depends on the energy resolutions of the two CE peaks, which could be affected by relative positions of the plastic cell to the CsI(Tl) because the embedded plastic cell would interrupt scintillation light path from the CsI(Tl) crystal to the PMT. In this study, several relative positions between the embedded plastic cell and the CsI(Tl) crystal have been evaluated using Monte Carlo modeling for its effects on coincidence detection efficiency and X-ray and CE energy resolutions. The results indicate that the energy resolution and beta-gamma coincidence counting efficiency of X-ray and CE depend significantly on the plastic cell locations inside the CsI(Tl). The degraded X-ray and CE peak energy resolutions due to light collection efficiency deterioration by the embedded cell can be minimised. The optimum of CE and X-ray energy resolution, beta-gamma coincidence efficiency as well as the ease of manufacturing could be achieved by varying the embedded plastic cell positions inside the CsI(Tl) and consequently setting the most efficient geometry.

Particle Density Using Deposition Filters at the Full Scale RDD Experiments.

AbstractDuring the Full-Scale Radiological Dispersal Device (FSRDD) Field Trials carried out in Suffield, Alberta, Canada, several suites of detection equipment and software models were used to measure and characterize the ground deposition. The FSRDD Field Trials were designed to disperse radioactive lanthanum of known activity to better understand such an event. This paper focuses on one means of measuring both concentration and the particle size distribution of the deposition using electrostatic filters placed around the trial site to collect deposited particles for analysis. The measurements made from ground deposition filters provided a basis to guide modeling and validate results by giving insight on how particles are distributed by a plume.

Estimation of the Arctic aerosols from local and long-range transport using relationships between 210Pb and 212Pb atmospheric activity concentrations

In this study, the aerosol activity concentrations of (210)Pb at 28 Canadian radiological monitoring stations from 2009 to 2013 were analyzed. The results show that the ratio of (210)Pb winter average concentration to summer average concentration increases with increasing latitude. This could be used to evaluate the transport of pollutants to the Arctic region such as the Arctic haze from Eurasia through long-range atmospheric transport during winter. Based on 12 years of monitoring results from the Yellowknife station that includes both (210)Pb and (212)Pb concentrations, the study confirms that the seasonal distribution of (210)Pb to (212)Pb activity concentration ratios has a significant peak in winter and a relatively low value in summer, which can be used as an indicator of the air mass flow to the Arctic. The period dominated by long-range aerosol transport and Arctic haze was estimated by fitting a Gaussian distribution function to the peak values of this ratio in winter. A peak width parameter of full width at half maximum (FWHM) allows a year by year estimate of the period of influence by long-range transport of aerosols, and this varied between 67 and 88 days in this study. The fitted Gaussian peak also shows that the season of the continental influenced air mass in Yellowknife usually starts in mid-to-late November and ends in mid-to-late April. Thus, the (210)Pb to (212)Pb ratio distributions may enable the determination of periods dominated by long-range aerosol transport and the scale of the Arctic haze at different latitudes.

Performance evaluation and optimization for a newly developed digital list-mode data acquisition Compton suppression spectrometer

A comparative study was carried out between an analog timing and a digital list-mode data acquisition system for a Compton suppression spectrometer. The performance of both Compton suppression systems has been evaluated using the conventional, coincidence and anticoincidence spectra measured by (60)Co and (137)Cs point sources. The present study focuses on improving and optimizing the energy peak resolution and peak-to-Compton background ratios of the digital list-mode system.

Detection efficiency calculations using Geant4 for a broad-energy germanium gamma spectrometer

In assistance of radionuclide measurements at Canada’s Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) laboratory, a Geant4 Monte Carlo application has been developed in simulating a broad-energy germanium detector and calculating detection efficiencies. The detector model was optimized in a reliable and non-biased manner through simultaneous tuning on gap distance and detector dimension, and was validated over various realistic measurement scenarios. All work is based on a series of experiments which covers the typical energy range of gamma radiation in environmental analysis, and considers the variety of the CTBT sample type, dimension and distance-to-detector. In all cases, the predicted efficiencies are consistent with the empirical ones within 5%, with a typical deviation of 3% in majority.