Matthew W. Cooper

Further developments of a robust absolute calibration method utilizing beta/gamma coincidence techniques

Performing accurate and verifiable measurements is often the most challenging goal for any radiation detector and is especially challenging for the radio-xenon detectors deployed by the International Monitoring System (IMS) of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Often the accuracy of the measurement is directly tied to how well the detector is calibrated, in both energy and efficiency. Standard methods often rely on using certified sealed sources to determine the absolute efficiency. Similarly, efforts to calibrate the absolute efficiency of radioactive gas cell detectors utilize a number of methodologies which allow adequate calibration but are time consuming and prone to a host of difficulties to determine uncertainties (McIntyre et al, J Radioanal Nucl Chem 282(3):755–759, 2009; Anderson et al, Stat Probab Lett 77(88):769–773, 2007). Utilizing methods developed in the 1960s for absolute measurements of activity with beta–gamma detector systems it has become clear that it is possible to achieve higher precision results that are consistent across a range of isotopes and activities (National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement, A handbook of radioactivity measurements procedure NCPR report, 1985). Even more compelling is the ease with which this process can be used on routine samples to determine the total activity present in the detector. Additionally, recent advances in the generation of isotopically pure radio-xenon samples of 131mXe, 133Xe, and 135Xe allow these measurement techniques to achieve much better results than have previously been possible when using mixed isotopic radio-xenon sources (Haas et al, J Radioanal Nucl Chem 282(3):677–680, 2009). This paper will discuss the beta/gamma absolute detection efficiency techniques of direct measurement of the efficiencies and the extrapolation method and compare the results using modeled and measured pure sources of 133Xe and 135Xe.

Absolute Efficiency Calibration of a Beta-Gamma Detector

Identification and quantification of nuclear events such as the Fukushima reactor failure and nuclear explosions rely heavily on the accurate measurement of radioxenon releases. One radioxenon detection method depends on detecting beta-gamma coincident events paired with a stable xenon measurement to determine the concentration of a plume. Like all measurements, the beta-gamma method relies on knowing the detection efficiency for each isotope measured. Several methods are commonly used to characterize the detection efficiency for a beta-gamma detector. The first and easiest method is to use a traceable (e.g., NIST) gamma standard to determine the detection efficiency. A second method determines the detection efficiencies relative to an already characterized detector. Finally, a potentially more accurate method is to use isotopes that the system is intended to measure and the form the system is intended to measure to perform an absolute efficiency calibration; in the case of a beta-gamma detector, this relies on radioxenon gas samples. The complication of the first method is it focuses only on the gamma detectors and does not offer a solution for determining the beta efficiency. The second method listed is not similarly constrained, however it relies on another detector to have a well-known efficiency calibration. The final method using actual radioxenon samples to make an absolute efficiency determination is the most desirable, but until recently, it was not possible to produce all four isotopically pure radioxenon isotopes. The production, by University of Texas (UT), of isotopically pure radioxenon has allowed the beta-gamma detectors to be calibrated using the absolute efficiency method. The first four radioxenon isotope calibration will be discussed in this paper.

A program to generate simulated radioxenon beta–gamma data for concentration verification and validation and training exercises

PNNL developed a beta–gamma simulator (BGSim) that incorporated GEANT-modeled data sets from radioxenon decay chains, as well as functionality to use nuclear detector-acquired data sets to create new beta–gamma spectra with varying amounts of background, 133Xe, 131mXe, 133mXe, 135Xe, and 222Rn and its decay products. After BGSim was developed, additional uses began to be identified for the program output: training sets of two-dimensional spectra for data analysts at the IDC and other NDC, and spectra for exercises such as the Integrated Field Exercise 2014 held in Jordan at the Dead Sea.

Measurements of Argon-39 at the U20az underground nuclear explosion site

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory reports on the detection of 39Ar at the location of an underground nuclear explosion on the Nevada Nuclear Security Site. The presence of 39Ar was not anticipated at the outset of the experimental campaign but results from this work demonstrated that it is present, along with 37Ar and 85Kr in the subsurface at the site of an underground nuclear explosion. Our analysis showed that by using state-of-the-art technology optimized for radioargon measurements, it was difficult to distinguish 39Ar from the fission product 85Kr. Proportional counters are currently used for high-sensitivity measurement of 37Ar and 39Ar. Physical and chemical separation processes are used to separate argon from air or soil gas, yielding pure argon with contaminant gases reduced to the parts-per-million level or below. However, even with purification at these levels, the beta decay signature of 85Kr can be mistaken for that of 39Ar, and the presence of either isotope increases the measurement background level for the measurement of 37Ar. Measured values for the 39Ar measured at the site ranged from 36,000 milli- Becquerel/standard-cubic-meter-of-air (mBq/SCM) for shallow bore holes to 997,000 mBq/SCM from the rubble chimney from the underground nuclear explosion.

Radioxenon detector calibration spike production and delivery systems

Beta–gamma coincidence radioxenon detectors must be calibrated for each of the four-radioxenon isotopes (135Xe, 133Xe, 133mXe, and 131mXe). Without a proper calibration, there is potential for the misidentification of the amount of each isotope detected. It is important to accurately determine the amount of each radioxenon isotope, as the ratios can be used to distinguish between an anthropogenic source and a nuclear explosion. We have developed a xenon calibration system (XeCalS) that produces calibration spikes of known activity and pressure for field calibration of detectors. We will present results from the development of XeCalS and a portable spike implementation system.

Methods and Instruments for Fast Neutron Detection

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory evaluated the performance of a large-area (~0.7 m2) plastic scintillator time-of-flight (TOF) sensor for direct detection of fast neutrons. This type of sensor is a readily area-scalable technology that provides broad-area geometrical coverage at a reasonably low cost. It can yield intrinsic detection efficiencies that compare favorably with moderator-based detection methods. The timing resolution achievable should permit substantially more precise time windowing of return neutron flux than would otherwise be possible with moderated detectors. The energy-deposition threshold imposed on each scintillator contributing to the event-definition trigger in a TOF system can be set to blind the sensor to direct emission from the neutron generator. The primary technical challenge addressed in the project was to understand the capabilities of a neutron TOF sensor in the limit of large scintillator area and small scintillator separation, a size regime in which the neutral particle’s flight path between the two scintillators is not tightly constrained.

Final Technical Report on Radioxenon Event Analysis

This is a final deliverable report for the Advanced Spectral Analysis for Radioxenon project with a focus on radioxenon event categorization.

Beta-cell Assembly for the Quad Gas Sampling Detector

The beta-cells used in the beta-gamma detector have taken time to develop and to standardize the assembly of them. In making the assembly routine it is important to have step by step assembly instructions as well as a list of potential problems and their solutions. This document attempts to accomplish these goals.

Modeling Light Capture Efficiency on Various Radiation Detector Geometries Using Monte-Carlo Optical Transport Software

Investigates the optimization of light capture efficiency in a two scintillation cell radiation detector

Evaluation of phoswich well detectors for radioxenon monitoring

Systems to monitor radioactive xenon in the atmosphere, part of an international network to detect nuclear weapons testing, often employ beta-gamma coincidence measurements to increase sensitivity. Existing coincidence systems use separate detectors for beta and gamma radiation and thus require several electronics readout channels that are cumbersome to set up and calibrate. To simplify such systems, we designed phoswich well detectors which require only a single readout channel and evaluated their performance for radioxenon detection.