A new approach for the determination of dose rate and radioactivity for detected gamma nuclides using an environmental radiation monitor based on an NaI(Tl) detector

To expand the application of dose rate spectroscopy to the environment, the method using an environmental radiation monitor (ERM) based on a 3» × 3» NaI(Tl) detector was used to perform real-Time monitoring of the dose rate and radioactivity for detected gamma nuclides in the ground around an ERM. Full-energy absorption peaks in the energy spectrum for dose rate were first identified to calculate the individual dose rates of ²¹⁴Bi, ²²⁸Ac, ²⁰⁸Tl, and ⁴⁰K distributed in the ground through interference correction because of the finite energy resolution of the NaI(Tl) detector used in an ERM. The radioactivity of the four natural radionuclides was then calculated from the in situ calibration factor -That is, the dose rate per unit curie -of the used ERM for the geometry of the ground in infinite half-space, which was theoretically estimated by Monte Carlo simulation. By an intercomparison using a portable HPGe and samples taken from the ground around an ERM, this method to calculate the dose rate and radioactivity of four nuclides using an ERM was experimentally verified and finally applied to remotely monitor them in real-Time in the area in which the ERM had been installed.