The feasibility of using certified reference\ud
materials for the full energy efficiency calibration of p-type\ud
coaxial high-purity germanium detectors for the determination\ud
of radioactivity in environmental samples is discussed.\ud
The main sources of uncertainty are studied and the\ud
contributions to the total uncertainty budget for the most\ud
intense gamma lines are presented. The correction factors\ud
due to self-absorption and true coincidence summing\ud
effects are discussed in detail. The calibration procedure is\ud
validated for natural and artificial radionuclide determination\ud
in different matrices through an internal cross-validation\ud
and through the participation in a world-wide open\ud
proficiency test
Because potential Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORMs) generated from oil and gas extractions in Albania have been disposed without regulatory criteria in many decades, an extensive survey in one of the most productive regions (Vlora-Elbasan) has been performed. Among 52 gammaray spectrometry measurements of soil, oil-sand, sludge, produced water and crude oil samples, we discover that relatively low activity concentrations of 226 to be 20 ± 5 Bq/kg, 25 ± 10 Bq/kg, 25 ± 9 Bq/kg and 326 ± 83 Bq/kg, respectively. Based on these arguments, the future radiological assessment of other fields in the region can be strategically planned focusing on the oil-sands from molasses sediments. No disequilibrium in the 228 Ra decay segment has been observed in soil, sludge and oil-sand samples within the standard uncertainties. After a detailed radiological characterization of the four main oilfields, we can conclude that the outdoor absorbed dose rate never exceeds the worldwide population weighted average absorbed dose rate in outdoor air from terrestrial gamma radiation.
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