Radionuclide measurements of the international monitoring system.

The International Monitoring System (IMS) is a unique global network of sensors, tuned to measure various phenomenology, with the common goal of detecting a nuclear explosion anywhere in the world. One component of this network collects measurements of radioactive particulates and gases (collectively known as radionuclides) present in the atmosphere; through this, compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) can be verified. The radionuclide sub-network consists of 120 sensors across 80 locations, supported by 16 measurement laboratories. All radionuclide stations make use of a form of γ-ray spectroscopy to measure radionuclides from samples; this remains largely unchanged since the network was first established 25 years ago. Advances in sampling and spectroscopy systems can yield improvements to the sensitivity of the network to detect a nuclear explosion. This paper summarises the status of the IMS radionuclide network, the current suite of technology used and reviews new technology that could enhance future iterations, potentially improving the verification power of the IMS.

A gamma-gamma coincidence/anticoincidence spectrometer for low-level cosmogenic (22)Na/(7)Be activity ratio measurement.

In this study, a digital gamma-gamma coincidence/anticoincidence spectrometer was developed and examined for low-level cosmogenic (22)Na and (7)Be in air-filter sample monitoring. The spectrometer consists of two bismuth germanate scintillators (BGO) and an XIA LLC Digital Gamma Finder (DGF)/Pixie-4 software and card package. The spectrometer design allows a more selective measurement of (22)Na with a significant background reduction by gamma-gamma coincidence events processing. Hence, the system provides a more sensitive way to quantify trace amounts of (22)Na than normal high resolution gamma spectrometry providing a critical limit of 3 mBq within a 20 h count. The use of a list-mode data acquisition technique enabled simultaneous determination of (22)Na and (7)Be activity concentrations using a single measurement by coincidence and anticoincidence mode respectively.

Monte Carlo simulations of NaI(Tl) spectra for measurements of semi-infinite plumes.

For the past 10 y Health Canada has operated a Fixed Point Surveillance Network of NaI(Tl) detectors across Canada. Deployed for both emergency response and daily monitoring of airborne radiation in the environment, a spectral stripping method allowed measurement of certain isotopes well below the ambient dose rate. These include (133)Xe, (135)Xe and (41)Ar, typical of emissions from operating nuclear reactors. In an effort to increase the number of isotopes measured at these low levels a new technique of spectral fitting using spectral templates is being implemented. However, this requires very accurate spectral templates that can be difficult or impossible to obtain empirically for environmental measurements of airborne radio-isotopes. Therefore, a method of efficiently using Monte Carlo techniques to create these templates was developed.

Performance evaluation and optimization for a newly developed digital list-mode data acquisition Compton suppression spectrometer.

A comparative study was carried out between an analog timing and a digital list-mode data acquisition system for a Compton suppression spectrometer. The performance of both Compton suppression systems has been evaluated using the conventional, coincidence and anticoincidence spectra measured by (60)Co and (137)Cs point sources. The present study focuses on improving and optimizing the energy peak resolution and peak-to-Compton background ratios of the digital list-mode system.

Quantification of 235U and 238U activity concentrations for undeclared nuclear materials by a digital gamma-gamma coincidence spectroscopy.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of verifying depleted uranium (DU), natural uranium (NU), low enriched uranium (LEU) and high enriched uranium (HEU) by a developed digital gamma-gamma coincidence spectroscopy. The spectroscopy consists of two NaI(Tl) scintillators and XIA LLC Digital Gamma Finder (DGF)/Pixie-4 software and card package. The results demonstrate that the spectroscopy provides an effective method of (235)U and (238)U quantification based on the count rate of their gamma-gamma coincidence counting signatures. The main advantages of this approach over the conventional gamma spectrometry include the facts of low background continuum near coincident signatures of (235)U and (238)U, less interference from other radionuclides by the gamma-gamma coincidence counting, and region-of-interest (ROI) imagine analysis for uranium enrichment determination. Compared to conventional gamma spectrometry, the method offers additional advantage of requiring minimal calibrations for (235)U and (238)U quantification at different sample geometries.

Beta-gamma coincidence counting efficiency and energy resolution optimization by Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations for a phoswich well detector.

A single-channel phoswich well detector has been assessed and analysed in order to improve beta-gamma coincidence measurement sensitivity of (131m)Xe and (133m)Xe. This newly designed phoswich well detector consists of a plastic cell (BC-404) embedded in a CsI(Tl) crystal coupled to a photomultiplier tube (PMT). It can be used to distinguish 30.0-keV X-ray signals of (131m)Xe and (133m)Xe using their unique coincidence signatures between the conversion electrons (CEs) and the 30.0-keV X-rays. The optimum coincidence efficiency signal depends on the energy resolutions of the two CE peaks, which could be affected by relative positions of the plastic cell to the CsI(Tl) because the embedded plastic cell would interrupt scintillation light path from the CsI(Tl) crystal to the PMT. In this study, several relative positions between the embedded plastic cell and the CsI(Tl) crystal have been evaluated using Monte Carlo modeling for its effects on coincidence detection efficiency and X-ray and CE energy resolutions. The results indicate that the energy resolution and beta-gamma coincidence counting efficiency of X-ray and CE depend significantly on the plastic cell locations inside the CsI(Tl). The degraded X-ray and CE peak energy resolutions due to light collection efficiency deterioration by the embedded cell can be minimised. The optimum of CE and X-ray energy resolution, beta-gamma coincidence efficiency as well as the ease of manufacturing could be achieved by varying the embedded plastic cell positions inside the CsI(Tl) and consequently setting the most efficient geometry.