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The Department of Energy (DOE) has ruled that all sealed radioactive sources, even those considered exempt under Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations, are subject to radioactive material controls. However, sources based on the primordial isotope potassium-40 (40K) are not subject to these restrictions. Potassium-40’s beta spectrum and 1460.8 keV gamma ray can be used to induce K-shell fluorescence x rays in high-Z metals between 60 and 80 keV. A gamma ray calibration source is thus proposed that uses potassium chloride salt and a high-Z metal to create a two-point calibration for a sodium iodide field gamma spectroscopy instrument. The calibration source was designed in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory using the Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended (MCNPX) transport code. The x ray production was maximized while attempting to preserve the detector system’s sensitivity to external sources by minimizing the count rate and shielding effect of the calibration source. Since the source is intended to be semi-permanently fixed to the detector, the weight of the calibration source was also a design factor. Two methods of x-ray production were explored. First, a thin high-Z layer (HZL) was interposed between the detector and the potassium chloride-urethane source matrix. Second, bismuth metal powder was homogeneously mixed with a urethane binding agent to form a potassium chloride-bismuth matrix (KBM). The two methods were directly compared using a series of simulations, including their x ray peak strengths, pulse-height spectral characteristics, and response to a simulated background environment. The bismuth-based source was selected as the development model because it is cheap, nontoxic, and outperforms the high-Z layer method in simulation. The overall performance for the bismuth-based source was significantly improved by splitting the calibration source longitudinally into two halves and placing them on either side of the detector. The performance was improved further by removing the binding agent and simulating a homogeneous mixture of potassium chloride and bismuth powder in a 0.1 cm plastic casing. The split plastic-encased potassium chloride-bismuth matrix would serve as a light, cheap, field calibration source that is not subject to DOE restrictions.

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Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:45:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:08:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 07176.pdf: 4406803 bytes, checksum: fbfc4de3a51d8f9a62563c8233d28b8d (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:28:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:57:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:35:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:59:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:42:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:55:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:28:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:57:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Neste trabalho foram determinadas as concentrações dos radionuclídeos naturais 226Ra, 232Th e 40K em amostras de areias superficiais para 16 localizações ao longo da costa da Grande Vitória, região metropolitana do estado do Espírito Santo, sudeste do Brasil. As áreas de estudo compreendem as praias de Manguinhos e Jacaraípe no município da Serra, Camburi, Praia do Canto e Curva da Jurema no município de Vitória, Praia da Costa e Praia de Itapuã no município de Vila Velha, Praia de Setibão, Setibinha, Praia do Morro, Praia das Castanheiras e Praia da Areia Preta no Município de Guarapari e areia da Reserva Paulo Cesar Vinha também localizada no município de Guarapari. Para cada sítio de estudo, três amostras foram seladas em frascos de 100 ml de polietileno de alta densidade. Após espera de aproximadamente 4 semanas para atingir o equilíbrio secular das séries do 238U e 232Th, as amostras foram medidas por espectrometria gama de alta resolução e o espectro analisado com o software WinnerGamma. A correção da auto-absorção foi realizada para todas as amostras. A concentração do 226Ra foi determinada pela média ponderada das concentrações do 214Pb e 214Bi, a concentração de 232Th pela média ponderada das concentrações dos 228Ac, 212Pb e 212Bi e a concentração de 40K pela sua transição única de 1460 keV. O equivalente em rádio e o índice gama foram obtidos a partir das concentrações de 226Ra, 232Th e 40K. As concentrações de 226Ra variaram de 3 ± 1Bq.kg-1 a 738 ± 38Bq.kg-1, com o maior valor na localidade central da Praia de Camburi. As concentrações de 232Th variaram de 7 ± 3Bq.kg-1 a 7422 ± 526Bq.kg-1, com o maior valor na Praia da Areia Preta. As concentrações de 40K variaram de 14 ± 6Bq.kg-1 a 638 ± 232Bq.kg-1, com o maior valor na Praia da Areia Preta. O cálculo do equivalente em rádio e do índice gama mostrou duas faixas distintas. Na primeira, para a maioria das praias, o equivalente em rádio variou de 15 ± 6Bq.kg-1 a 257 ± 18Bq.kg-1, abaixo do limite inferior de 370Bq.kg-1 recomendado pela OECD como adequado para uso em material de construção e o índice gama externo foi inferior ao limite aceitável de 1 sugerido pelo UNSCEAR. Na segunda, para as praias de Setibinha, Curva da Jurema, Camburi Sul e Camburi Central e Praia da Areia Preta, o equivalente em rádio variou de 820 ± 40Bq.kg-1 até 11200 ± 580Bq.kg-1, excedendo de 2 a 30 vezes o limite mínimo recomendado para aplicação na construção civil e o índice gama superou de 3 até quase 40 vezes o limite sugerido pelo UNSCEAR. / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP