We describe extensive testing of a large-volume, high-speed water sampler for the concentration and measurement of radionuclides using high-resolution gamma ray spectrometry. The sampler processed hundreds to thousands of liters of natural waters with variable suspended sediment and salinity loads at flow rates of 10-201/min. Extraction of most radionuclides in the water column was accomplished...

Natural radionuclides present in soil as well as certain anthropogenic radionuclides released to the environment are the major contributors to terrestrial outdoor exposures. In the assessment of human exposures from environmental radioactivity, besides the conventional method of soil and vegetation sampling combined with laboratory based analyses of environmental media, the other choice would b...

Radioactivity of terrestrial radionuclides Ra, Th and K in phosphate rock samples has been measured using gamma ray spectrometry system with an HPGe detector. The samples showed fairly high mean concentrations, 410±39 Bq.kg of Ra, 7.9±0.95 of Th and 37.6±4 of K. Mean absorbed gamma dose rate of 181.9±20 nGy.h was measured in air. Assessment of radiological hazards was made by calculating radium...

Urban areas present highly complex radiation environments; with small scale features resulting from different construction materials, topographic effects and potential anthropogenic inputs from past industrial activity or other sources. Mapping of the radiation fields in urban areas allows a detailed assessment of exposure pathways for the people who live and work there, as well as locating dis...

Radiation detectors made from artificial chemical vapor deposition (CVD) single crystal diamond have shown great potential for neutron spectrometry. The detectors are small, typically about (5 × 5 × 0.5) mm, they are not very sensitive to gamma radiation, and they have good radiation hardness properties. They are, therefore, very promising candidates for applications where high resolution neutr...

The modern photoelectric scintillation detector emerged just 30 years ago out of the rubble of World War II. Kallmann in Germany had the original idea of combining an organic fluor (naphthalene), which is transparent to its fluorescent light, with an electronmultiplier phototube for the detection of single scintillation evants. Hofstadter at Princeton discovered that the inorganic thallium-acti...

A non-destructive, gamma-spectrometric method for uranium age-dating is presented which is applicable to material of any physical form and geometrical shape. It relies on measuring the daughter/parent activity ratio Bi/U by low-background, high-resolution gamma-spectrometry using intrinsic efficiency calibration. The method does not require the use of any reference materials nor the use of an e...

Low enriched uranium samples of unknown origin were analyzed by 16 laboratories in the context of a Collaborative Materials Exercise (CMX), organized by the Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working Group (ITWG). The purpose was to compare and prioritize nuclear forensic methods and techniques, and to evaluate attribution capabilities among participants. This paper gives a snapshot of t...