Using Mathematical Procedure to Compute the Attenuation Coefficient in Spectrometry Fields

Abstract

In gamma-ray spectrometry, the analysis of the environmental radioactivity samples (soil, sediment and ash of a living organism) needs to know the linear attenuation coeffi cient of the sample matrix. This coeffi cient is required to calculate the self-absorption correction factor through the sample bulk. In addition, these parameters are very important because the unidentifi ed samples can be different in the composition and density from the reference liquid sources which are usually used for effi ciency calibration in the radioactive monitoring process. The present work is essentially concerned to introduce a mathematical method to calculate the linear attenuation coeffi cient without using any collimator. This method was based mainly on the calculations of the effective solid angle subtended by the source-to-the detector confi gurations, the effi ciency transfer technique and the average path lengths through the samples itself. The method can be used as a tool for the calculation of the linear attenuation coeffi cient of unidentifi ed materials with good facility to use it in the calibration process of γ-ray detectors, particularly in the study of soil samples. The results are compared with the data from NIST-XCOM to show how much the results are in close agreement and to give the validity of the approach.