Determination of the vertical distribution of radioelements (K, U, Th, Cs) in soils from portable HP-Ge spectrometer measurements: A tool for soil erosion studies

Ground gamma-ray survey of the Solforata gas discharge area, Alban Hills-Italy: a comparison between field and laboratory measurements

Measurements of environmental radioactivity by HPGe gamma-spectrometry were carried out with the aim of investigating the distribution of natural radionuclides in a volcanic area and to compare two different methodologies - an in situ gamma-survey of the area and high accuracy laboratory measurements of soil samples. Results demonstrate good performance of the in situ technique, also confirmed by a correlation analysis between the results obtained by the two methodologies. A volcanic gas discharge area was chosen as the test site for the presence of natural long-lived radionuclides such as (40)K and (238)U, (235)U and (232)Th, and their decay chain members. Clear evidence of (222)Rn degassing in the area was confirmed by (226)Ra values measured by the in situ technique. Higher (40)K values measured by the in situ technique may be attributed to the presence of vegetation in the study area.

Calibration of a portable HPGe detector using MCNP code for the determination of 137Cs in soils

In situ gamma spectrometry provides a fast method to determine (137)Cs inventories in soils. To improve the accuracy of the estimates, one can use not only the information on the photopeak count rates but also on the peak to forward-scatter ratios. Before applying this procedure to field measurements, a calibration including several experimental simulations must be carried out in the laboratory. In this paper it is shown that Monte Carlo methods are a valuable tool to minimize the number of experimental measurements needed for the calibration.