A semi-empirical approach to analyze the activities of cylindrical radioactive samples using gamma energies from 185 to 1764 keV

This work suggests a method for determining the activities of cylindrical radioactive samples. The self-attenuation factor was applied for providing the self-absorption correction of gamma rays in the sample material. The experimental measurement of a U-238 reference sample and the calculation using the MCNP5 code allow obtaining the semi-empirical formulae of detecting efficiencies for the gamma energies ranged from 185 to 1764 keV. These formulae were used to determine the activities of the U-238, Ra-226, Th-232, Cs-137 and K-40 nuclides in the IAEA RGU-1, IAEA-434, IAEA RGTh-1, IAEA-152 and IAEA RGK-1 radioactive standards. The coincidence summing corrections for gamma rays in the U-238 and Th-232 series were applied. The activities obtained in this work were in good agreement with the reference values. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.