O Laboratório de Análise por Ativação com Nêutrons (LAN) do Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN), utiliza esta técnica analítica multielementar, baseada na irradiação de uma amostra por um feixe de nêutrons oriundos de um reator nuclear, que induz a radioatividade; que é medida em um espectrômetro de raios gama, para a obtenção dos espectros de raios gama. Neste trabalho é implementado um software denominado de SAANI (Software Análise por Ativação com Nêutrons Instrumental) para análise de espectros de raios gama, desenvolvido para os usuários do laboratório LAN-IPEN, com a filosofia de software livre, para a substituição do software existente VISPECT/VERSÃO 2, e tem como características principais: tornar a interface mais amigável; facilitar a padronização dos procedimentos realizados pelos pesquisadores, estudantes e técnicos; ser extensível com a utilização da tecnologia de plugins; multiplataforma; código livre. O software foi desenvolvido utilizando a linguagem de programação Python, a biblioteca gráfica Trolltech Qt e algumas de suas extensões científicas. Os resultados preliminares obtidos utilizando o software SAANI foram comparados aos obtidos com o software existente e foram considerados bons. Algumas diferenças encontradas foram verificadas oriundas de erros de precisão na implementação do software. O software SAANI está instalado nos computadores de usuários selecionados para a execução de rotinas de análise para uma maior verificação de sua robustez, precisão e usabilidade. / This study developed a specific software for gamma ray spectra analysis for researchers of the Neutron Activation Laboratory (LAN), which was named SAANI (Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis Software). The LAN laboratory of the Institute for Research and Nuclear Energy (IPEN-CNEN/SP), uses a multielementar analytical technique, based on irradiation of a sample by a flux of neutrons from a nuclear reactor, which induces radioactivity. The sample is then placed in a gamma-ray spectrometer, to obtain the spectrum. With free software philosophy in mind, this software will replace the existing software VISPECT / VERSION 2. The new software´s main features are: a friendlier interface; easier standardization procedure carried out by LAN staff and researchers; adapted to the use of plug technology; multiplatform and code free. The software was developed using the programming Python language, the library Trolltech Qt graphics and some of their scientific extensions. Preliminary results using the SANNI software were compared to those obtained with the existing software and were considered good. There were some errors in accuracy during the implementation of the software. The SAANI software has been installed in selected computers to be used for routine analysis in order to verify its strength, accuracy and usability.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1956 B87 / Master of Science

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1958 T75

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1964 D75 / Master of Science

A detailed stratigraphic analysis of the Lower Lias of southern Britain using the technique of gamma-ray spectrometry is presented. Gamma-ray data were collected, at the maximum stratigraphic resolution possible, from the Rhaetian to Pliensbachian successions exposed in southern Britain in the Bristol Channel Basin, Wessex Basin and East Midland Shelf. The data, in the form of measured gamma-ray signatures and hence geochemical profiles, is placed within a biostratigraphic framework. The outcrop gamma-ray logs collected from the Somerset coast (Rhaetian - Lower Sinemurian) can be subdivided, on the basis of both total gamma-ray signature and elemental log-signature into 9 gamma-ray units. These units are at a higher level of resolution than the single LL 1 gamma-ray unit defined by Whittaker et al (1985) for the Blue Lias in the subsurface. Outcrop gamma-ray correlation is possible between Somerset and Glamorgan, in some cases at a resolution greater than that offered by ammonite subzonal biostratigraphy. This resolution of correlation suggests the presence of a stratigraphic gap in Somerset within the johnstoni Subzone of the planorbis Zone. The outcrop gamma-ray logs collected from the Dorset coast (Rhaetian - Pliensbachian) can be divided into 10 gamma-ray units. These gamma-ray units can be correlated with the subsurface succession in the Winterborne Kingston and the Burton Row boreholes. The ability to correlate across numerous fault blocks and between different basins suggests that the controls upon gamma-ray signature were probably regional. A model is presented in which the degree of detrital influence within a fine grained mud and pelagic carbonate depositional system can be qualitatively assessed. Proximal and distal mudrock facies can be identified from the Th concentration log with proximal facies characterised by a Th concentration 10 ppm and above and distal facies characterised by a Th concentration of 8 ppm and below. The Th concentration log can also be used to determine intervals of mudrock progradation (increasing Th concentration) and retrogradation (decreasing Th concentration). These signatures can be interpreted within a sequence stratigraphic framework, of which the genetic stratigraphic model of Galloway (1989) is most applicable to the Lower Lias of southern Britain. The succession can be divided into eight genetic stratigraphic sequences. Maximum flooding surfaces are inferred at condensed limestone horizons of low Th concentration. The distal expression of the sequence boundary (the correlative conformity) is inferred at horizons of highest Th concentration. The development of anoxia within the epeiric sea can only partly be explained in terms of sequence stratigraphy with anoxia developing during periods of relative sea-level fall and rise or not at all.

In case of a release of radioactive nuclides into the environment it is necessary to  have reliable methods to estimate the potential effect on people and the ecosystem. In this context the total activity deposited, the elemental composition and the depth distribution are of importance. An efficient in situ method to estimate the average contamination over larger areas using high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors has been developed. The method combines simulation of photon transport with measured detector properties. The total activity of 137Cs determined from gamma-ray spectra recorded in situ are compared to results from soil sampling. Another in situ method has been developed to determine the depth distribution of a radionuclide contamination, using an array of small detectors inserted into the ground, as an alternative to the standard procedure of soil sampling. The possibility to use cadmium telluride (CdTe) detectors as well as lanthanum bromide (LaBr3) detectors has been investigated. As a demonstration of the developed method the small-scale variation of the activity distributions in an area covering 350 m2 have been measured and is compared to results obtained by other methods. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Submitted.

A delayed-coincidence spectrometer system was used to measure nuclear lifetimes in the picosecond region by the centroid-shift method. Timing signals were derived from two plastic scintillators; each plastic scintillator was located within a specially constructed NaI(Tl) detector. Each NaI(Tl) detector was used to detect the gamma ray which Compton scattered from an associated plastic scintillator. Energy identification was achieved by summing the signals from the plastic and the NaI(Tl) detectors to give full energy gamma-ray photopeaks. To test the effectiveness of the system, the half-lives of the first excited state of 134Ba and the first and second excited states of 144Nd were measured. The half life of the first excited state of 134Ba was measured as 4.4 - 1.3 psec; this result is in agreement with a previously reported value of 5.0 t 1.5 psec. The half-life for the first excited state of 144Nd was determined to be 1.5 ± 1.0 psec while the half-life for the second excited. state of 144Nd was determined to be 5.1 ± 0.5 psec. The half-life value for the second excited state of 144Nd is in disagreement with previously reported values of 21 ± 2 psec and 100 ± 30 psec which were also determined by delayed-coincidence methods. Although the result of 1.5 ± 1.0 psec for the first excited state lifetime differed from a previous result of 3.4 * 0.1 psec obtained by Coulomb excitation, this difference was due to the inability of the present spectrometer system to resolve the 618- and 696-keV gamma rays of 144Nd. It is concluded that a lower lifetime limit measurable with the system described in this study is about one picosecond, provided that the gamma rays can be resolved in the sum energy spectrum of the plastic and NaI(T1) detectors.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

A delayed-coincidence timing spectrometer system was used to experimentally measure the lifetime of the 344-keV level of 152 64Gd by means of the self comparison technique. A major objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of a NaI(Tl)-plastic detector assembly for energy spectrum reconstruction when measuring the lifetime of a level in a complex nuclear decay scheme. The experimentally measured mean life was 38 ± 5 psec. This result does not agree with two previously reported values of 76 psec. It was concluded that gamma-ray energy misidentification was primarily responsible for the disagreement. Correction factors would have to be applied to the experimental data is such a system is to be effective in a nuclear decay scheme study which involves many gamma rays.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

After a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) event, there will not be time to transport people to a whole-body-counter (WBC), since it is a specialized instrument. This work will assess the feasibility of using handheld spectrometers for measuring the radioactivity that may have been inhaled by a victim as a consequence of an RDD event. Measurements were made with a handheld isotope identifier using a slab phantom and several radioactive point sources. A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Realistic Torso Phantom and a set of phantoms based on Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) reports were also used in this work. These phantoms include the human skeleton and have tissue-equivalent organs. Computational models were developed of all of the phantoms using the Monte Carlo Transport code MCNP. After validation of the computer model, MCNP runs were conducted using other sources that are likely to be used in a RDD. Calculations were then done to find the Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of all sources used. The Minimum Detectable Dose (MDD) was then calculated for the MIRD phantoms at various times after inhalation.

Thesis--M. Phil., University of Hong Kong, 1983.