Development of a self-absorption correction method used for a HPGe detector by means of a Monte Carlo simulation

Quantitative analysis for food products and natural samples, to determine the activity of each radionuclide, can be made by using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometer system. The analysis procedure is, in general, based upon the guidelines established by the Nuclear Safety Division of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japan (JP MEXT). In the case of gamma-ray spectrum analysis for large volume samples, re-entrant (marinelli) containers are commonly used. The effect of photon attenuation in a large-volume sample, so-called “self-absorption”, should be corrected for precise determination of the activity. As for marinelli containers, two accurate geometries are shown in the JP MEXT guidelines for 700 milliliter and 2 liter volumes. In the document, the functions to obtain the self-absorption coefficients for these specific shapes are also shown. Therefore, self-absorption corrections have been carried out only for these two containers with practical media. However, to measure radioactivity for samples in containers of volumes other than those described in the guidelines, the self-absorption correction functions must be obtained by measuring at least two standard multinuclide volume sources, which consist of different media or different linear attenuation coefficients. In this work, we developed a method to obtain these functions over a wide range of linear attenuation coefficients for selfabsorption in various shapes of marinelli containers using a Monte Carlo simulation. This method was applied to a 1-liter marinelli container, which is widely used for the above quantitative analysis, although its self-absorption correction function has not yet been established. The validity of this method was experimentally checked through an analysis of natural samples with known activity levels.