Quantification of radiological hazards associated with natural radionuclides in soil, granite and charnockite rocks at selected fields in Ekiti State, Nigeria.

Assessment of activity levels of radionuclides that exist in soil, granite, and charnockite rock samples is very crucial because it exhibits an enhanced elemental concentration of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) contributing higher natural background activity than usual in the environment and it may cause health risk to human health through the external and internal exposure. This study determined the radioactivity levels of 238U, 232Th, and 40K radionuclides in soil, granite, and charnockite rock samples collected from selected fields in Ekiti State, Nigeria using Caesium iodide CsI(Tl) scintillation gamma spectrometer. It also evaluated indices of the radiological parameters consisting of radium equivalent activity (Raeq), absorbed dose rate (DR), annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE), internal hazard index (Hin), and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR). The calculated average activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K are 30.40 ± 0.71 Bq kg-1, 3.31 ± 0.05 Bq kg-1, and 222.25 ± 14.72 Bq kg-1, respectively, which were lower than their respective world average values. Comparatively, potassium concentrations in these collected samples have a higher value than concentrations of uranium and thorium (40K > 238U > 232Th). All the evaluated values of the radiological parameters (except DR) of the appraised radionuclides were below the global permissible limits. The granite rocks, charnockite rocks, and soils from Ekiti State in Nigeria do not pose any hazardous risk to humans, but continued monitoring is necessary when these materials are used as building materials, which cause long-term radiation exposure.

The investigation of the luminescent structure of thallium-doped cesium iodide (CsI:Tl) basing on the first-principles coupled with spectral analysis.

The luminescent structure of thallium-doped cesium iodide (CsI:Tl) and the behavior of electrons during luminescence are studied at great length based on the conventional first-principles calculation combined with ordinary spectroscopic analysis befittingly in this work. The hybrid functionals based on a screened Coulomb potential (HSE) is used to visualize the energy band structure of the experimental sample's system, and the corresponding relationship between the transition behavior of CsI:Tl energy levels and the spectrum is studied more accurately. We show the complete energy conversion process clearly, which involves the crystal beginning to receive the energy of a photon until the moment of de-excitation. All the fluorescence process is completed by Tl+ions that replace Cs+ions. Our results verify and complement the previous theories and potentially provide important references for the adjustment and design of the detectors and imaging equipment in different fields.

Development of compact sensor with CdS photoresistor for high gamma-ray field monitoring.

A compact gamma-ray sensor composed of a cadmium sulfide (CdS) photoresistor and a small-sized cesium iodine doped thallium scintillator is introduced for intense gamma-ray monitoring. The sensor exhibits radiation-resistant ability and a linear output response over a wide dose range. The dose rate at several conditions was measured for confirmation of feasibility. Experimental results demonstrated its advantage for gamma-ray measurements in intense fields as an inexpensive, robust, compact, and high-sensitivity device.

An environmental gamma spectrometry system with CsI(Tl) scintillator and FPGA based MCA for open field deployment.

Inorganic scintillator-based gamma spectrometry is typically carried out under laboratory conditions by using systems that require AC mains supply and dedicated computers for their operation. In this study, an in-house grown CsI(Tl) single crystal scintillator is optically coupled to a bialkali photomultiplier tube (PMT). The output of the PMT is fed to a pulse processing chain consisting of a preamplifier followed by an in-house designed and developed field programmable gate array (FPGA) based multichannel analyzer (MCA). Spectral data from this MCA is sent via serial communication to a microcontroller. A global system for mobile communications (GSM) modem transmits this data in the form of short message service (SMS) packets to a central receiving station, where the spectrum is reconstructed. The requirement of on-site data logging computer to store large spectral data has thereby been eliminated, which, in turn, has eliminated the requirement of AC power supply, reduced the overall power consumption and size of the system, and made it possible to develop a standalone solar-powered unit. For further reduction of overall power consumption, the spectrometer is turned-on only when a Geiger Mueller (GM) counter based gross gamma detection circuit, also included in the system, detects an ambient gamma dose rate beyond a pre-set threshold level. A mathematical methodology has also been implemented for restoration of recorded spectra, shifted due to temperature variations in the environment. All these features have been integrated and a standalone, solar-powered and battery operated field-deployable environmental gamma spectrometry system (EGSS) has been developed and tested for open field deployment. Presence of 41Ar in ambient air was successfully detected by the system.

MTF of columnar phosphors with a homogenous part: an analytical approach.

A method for the theoretical estimation of the MTF of columnar phosphors with a homogeneous part at the end used in X-ray imaging has been developed. This method considers the light transport inside the scintillator through an analytical modelling, the optical photon beams distribution on the scintillator-optical sensor interface, and uses the definition of the PSF and a Gauss fitted LSF to estimate the MTF of an indirect detector. This method was applied to a columnar CsI:Tl scintillator and validated against experimental results found in literature, and a good agreement was observed. It was found that, by increasing the pixel size of the optical detector and the thickness of the scintillator, the MTF decreased as expected. This method may be used in evaluating the performance of the columnar phosphors used in medical imaging, given their physical and geometrical characteristics.Graphical abstract (a) Side view of a part of the scintillator where five crystal columns with homogeneous ends attached to an optical sensor is shown. (b) Propagation of two random optical photon beams emitted from point K with different angles of emission is shown. All the symbols are explained analytically in the text.

Energy-dispersive Laue diffraction by means of a pnCCD detector coupled to a CsI(Tl) scintillator using ultra-hard X-ray synchrotron radiation.

The lattice parameters and unit-cell orientation of an SrLaAlO4 crystal have been determined by means of energy-dispersive X-ray Laue diffraction (EDLD) using a pnCCD detector coupled to a columnar structure CsI(Tl) scintillator in the energy range between 40 and 130 keV. By exploiting the high quantum efficiency (QE) achieved by this combined detection system for hard X-rays, a large number of Bragg reflections could be recorded by the relatively small detector area, allowing accurate and fast determination of the lattice parameters and the moduli of the structure factors. The experiment was performed on the energy-dispersive diffraction (EDDI) beamline at the BESSY II synchrotron using a pnCCD detector with 128 × 128 pixels. Since the energies and positions of the Laue peaks can be recorded simultaneously by the pnCCD system, the tetragonal structure of the investigated specimen was determined without any prior information. The unit-cell parameters and the angles between the lattice vectors were evaluated with an accuracy of better than 0.7%, while the structure-factor moduli of the reflections were determined with a mean deviation of 2.5% relative to the theoretical values.

Characterization of CsI(Tl) and LYSO(Ce) scintillator detectors by measurements and Monte Carlo simulations.

In this study, we investigated the performance of two cuboid scintillation detectors: thallium-activated cesium iodide [CsI(Tl)] and cerium-doped lutetium yttrium orthosilicate [LYSO(Ce)]. The CsI and LYSO crystals were 5 mm thick with an active area of 10 mm × 10 mm. The LYSO scintillator is characterized by its high stopping power and non-hygroscopicity (neither packaging nor light guide are required). Nevertheless, the main disadvantages of LYSO detectors are a lower light output (32 photons/keV) and an intrinsic radioactivity caused by the ß- decay of 176Lu (half-life 3.78 × 1010 years). In contrast, CsI crystals present a relatively high light output (54 photons/keV) allowing better energy resolution; however, the drawback of a CsI detector is low detection efficiency. First, we measured the photon detection efficiency of each scintillator in the photon energy range of 60-1332 keV using radioactive sources. Second, we computed detector efficiencies using the Monte Carlo codes MCNP and Geant4. A comparison between simulated and measured efficiencies showed a good agreement. This comparison confirmed the validity of the mathematical models developed for the two scintillation detectors CsI(Tl) and LYSO(Ce) under investigation.

Decreasing trend of ambient dose equivalent rates over a wide area in eastern Japan until 2016 evaluated by car-borne surveys using KURAMA systems.

As part of the investigation of the distribution of ambient dose equivalent rates around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), car-borne surveys using Kyoto University RAdiation MApping (KURAMA) systems have been conducted over a wide area in eastern Japan since 2011. The enormous volume of measurement data collected until 2016, including those until 2012 which were reported in the previous paper, was analyzed, and dependencies of the decreasing trend of the dose rates in regions within 80 km of the FDNPP on land-use categories, evacuation order areas and magnitude of the dose rates were examined. The air dose rates within 80 km of the FDNPP tended to decrease considerably with respect to the physical decay of radiocaesium. The decrease of the dose rate in the "forest" was slower than its decrease in other regions, while that in "urban area" was the fastest. The decrease in the air dose rate from 2011 was the fastest outside the evacuation order area until 2015, and it was the slowest in the "difficult-to-return zone". However, the decreasing trend starting from 2013 showed that the decrease in the "zone in preparation for the lifting of the evacuation order" and in the "residence restriction area" was the fastest. It was found that the air dose rates decreased depending on the magnitude of the dose rates and elapsed time from the FDNPP accident, i.e. the decrease in air dose rates in areas with relatively low dose ranges (such as 0.2-0.5 µSv/h) was the largest during a period relatively early after the accident, and the decreasing rate in the dose rate ranges of 1.9-3.8 and 3.8-9.5 µSv/h were the fastest after 2013. The averaged ratios were analyzed to obtain the ecological half-lives of the fast and slow decay components, and those in whole area within 80 km of FDNPP were estimated to be 0.44 ±â€¯0.05 y and 6.7 ±â€¯1 y, respectively. The ecological half-lives with respect to the land use categories, evacuation order areas and magnitude of the dose rates were also evaluated. The decrease in the dose rates obtained by the car-borne survey was larger than that obtained on flat ground with few disturbances using the NaI(Tl) survey meter during approximately 1.5 y after the FDNPP accident. Thereafter, the difference of decreasing tendencies in the air dose rates between both the measurements was negligibly small, with the ratio of dose rates by the car-borne survey to those by the fixed-point measurement of 0.72-0.77.

Measurement of ambient dose equivalent rates by walk survey around Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant using KURAMA-II until 2016.

Ambient dose equivalent rates in various environments related to human lives were measured by walk surveys using the KURAMA-II systems from 2013 to 2016 within an 80-km radius of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The dose rate of the locations where the walk survey was performed decreased to about 38% of its initial value in the 42 months from June 2013 to the December 2016, which was beyond that attributable to the physical decay of radiocaesium. The ecological half-life of the slow decreasing component was evaluated to be 4.1 ±â€¯0.2 y. The air dose rates decreased depending on the level of the evacuation areas, and the decrease in the dose rates was slightly larger in populated areas where humans are active. The dose rates as measured by walk surveys exhibited a good correlation with those by car-borne surveys, suggesting that car-borne survey data are reflecting the air dose rates in living environments surrounding roads. The comparison of walk survey data with car-borne survey data indicated that the air dose rate varies largely even within a 100 m square area, and the variation is enhanced by human activities. The dose rates measured by the walk surveys were estimated to be medial of those along roads and those of undisturbed flat ground, and they were found to be decreasing quickly compared with the air dose rate from the flat ground fixed-point measurements.

Decreasing trend of ambient dose equivalent rates over a wide area in eastern Japan until 2016 evaluated by car-borne surveys using KURAMA systems.

As part of the investigation of the distribution of ambient dose equivalent rates around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), car-borne surveys using Kyoto University RAdiation MApping (KURAMA) systems have been conducted over a wide area in eastern Japan since 2011. The enormous volume of measurement data collected until 2016, including those until 2012 which were reported in the previous paper, was analyzed, and dependencies of the decreasing trend of the dose rates in regions within 80 km of the FDNPP on land-use categories, evacuation order areas and magnitude of the dose rates were examined. The air dose rates within 80 km of the FDNPP tended to decrease considerably with respect to the physical decay of radiocaesium. The decrease of the dose rate in the "forest" was slower than its decrease in other regions, while that in "urban area" was the fastest. The decrease in the air dose rate from 2011 was the fastest outside the evacuation order area until 2015, and it was the slowest in the "difficult-to-return zone". However, the decreasing trend starting from 2013 showed that the decrease in the "zone in preparation for the lifting of the evacuation order" and in the "residence restriction area" was the fastest. It was found that the air dose rates decreased depending on the magnitude of the dose rates and elapsed time from the FDNPP accident, i.e. the decrease in air dose rates in areas with relatively low dose ranges (such as 0.2-0.5 µSv/h) was the largest during a period relatively early after the accident, and the decreasing rate in the dose rate ranges of 1.9-3.8 and 3.8-9.5 µSv/h were the fastest after 2013. The averaged ratios were analyzed to obtain the ecological half-lives of the fast and slow decay components, and those in whole area within 80 km of FDNPP were estimated to be 0.44 ±â€¯0.05 y and 6.7 ±â€¯1 y, respectively. The ecological half-lives with respect to the land use categories, evacuation order areas and magnitude of the dose rates were also evaluated. The decrease in the dose rates obtained by the car-borne survey was larger than that obtained on flat ground with few disturbances using the NaI(Tl) survey meter during approximately 1.5 y after the FDNPP accident. Thereafter, the difference of decreasing tendencies in the air dose rates between both the measurements was negligibly small, with the ratio of dose rates by the car-borne survey to those by the fixed-point measurement of 0.72-0.77.

Measurement of ambient dose equivalent rates by walk survey around Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant using KURAMA-II until 2016.

Ambient dose equivalent rates in various environments related to human lives were measured by walk surveys using the KURAMA-II systems from 2013 to 2016 within an 80-km radius of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. The dose rate of the locations where the walk survey was performed decreased to about 38% of its initial value in the 42 months from June 2013 to the December 2016, which was beyond that attributable to the physical decay of radiocaesium. The ecological half-life of the slow decreasing component was evaluated to be 4.1 ±â€¯0.2 y. The air dose rates decreased depending on the level of the evacuation areas, and the decrease in the dose rates was slightly larger in populated areas where humans are active. The dose rates as measured by walk surveys exhibited a good correlation with those by car-borne surveys, suggesting that car-borne survey data are reflecting the air dose rates in living environments surrounding roads. The comparison of walk survey data with car-borne survey data indicated that the air dose rate varies largely even within a 100 m square area, and the variation is enhanced by human activities. The dose rates measured by the walk surveys were estimated to be medial of those along roads and those of undisturbed flat ground, and they were found to be decreasing quickly compared with the air dose rate from the flat ground fixed-point measurements.

An analytical approach to the light transport in columnar phosphors. Detector Optical Gain, angular distribution and the CsI:Tl paradigm.

PURPOSE: An analytical model has been developed for the light propagation in columnar phosphors, based on the optical photon propagation physical and geometrical principles. METHODS: This model accounts for the multiple reflections on the sides of the crystal column, as well as for the infinite forward and backward reflections of the propagated optical photon beams created in the crystal bulk. Additionally it considers the lateral propagated optical photon beams after multiple refractions from the neighbor columns and the optical photon attenuation inside the scintillator. The model was used to predict the Detector Optical Gain (DOG), and the angular distribution, of the columnar CsI:Tl scintillators, used in medical imaging. RESULTS: The model was validated against CsI:Tl optical photon transmission published results and good agreement was observed. It was, also, found that the DOG is affected by the length of the columns, as well as the incident X-ray energy spectrum. The results of the angular distribution are in accordance with the theory that the longer crystal columns have more directional light distribution. CONCLUSIONS: The results of DOG are in accordance with the use of short crystal columns for lower energies (mammography) and the use of long crystal columns for higher energies (general radiology). Angular distribution was found more directive for long crystal columns.

Measurement of air dose rates over a wide area around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant through a series of car-borne surveys.

A series of car-borne surveys using the Kyoto University RAdiation MApping (KURAMA) and KURAMA-II survey systems has been conducted over a wide area in eastern Japan since June 2011 to evaluate the distribution of air dose rates around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and to evaluate the time-dependent trend of decrease in air dose rates. An automated data processing system for the KURAMA-II system was established, which enabled rapid analysis of large amounts of data obtained using about 100 KURAMA-II units. The initial data used for evaluating the migration status of radioactive cesium were obtained in the first survey, followed by other car-borne surveys conducted over more extensive and wider measurement ranges. By comparing the measured air dose rates obtained in each survey (until December 2012), the decreasing trend of air dose rates measured through car-borne surveys was found to be more pronounced than those expected on the basis of the physical decay of radioactive cesium and of the air dose rates measured using NaI (Tl) survey meters in the areas surrounding the roadways. In addition, it was found that the extent of decrease in air dose rates depended on land use, wherein it decreased faster for land used as building sites than for forested areas.

Performance evaluation of advanced industrial SPECT system with diverging collimator.

An advanced industrial SPECT system with 12-fold-array diverging collimator was developed for flow visualization in industrial reactors and was discussed in the previous study. The present paper describes performance evaluation of the SPECT system under both static- and dynamic- flow conditions. Under static conditions, the movement of radiotracer inside the test reactor was compared with that of color tracer (blue ink) captured with a high-speed camera. The comparison of the reconstructed images obtained with the radiotracer and the SPECT system showed fairly good agreement with video-frames of the color tracer obtained with the camera. Based on the results of the performance evaluation, it is concluded that the SPECT system is suitable for investigation and visualization of flows in industrial flow reactors.

A New Columnar CsI(Tl) Scintillator for iQID detectors.

A 1650 µm thick columnar CsI(Tl) scintillator for upgrading iQID detectors, which is a high-resolution photon-counting gamma-ray and x-ray detector recently developed at the Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging (CGRI), has been studied in terms of sensitivity, spatial resolution and depth-of-interaction effects. To facilitate these studies, a new frame-parsing algorithm for processing raw event data is also proposed that has more degrees of freedom in data processing and can discriminate against a special kind of noise present in some low-cost intensifiers. The results show that in comparison with a 450 µm-thickness columnar CsI(Tl) scintillator, the 1650 µm thick CsI(Tl) scintillator provides more than twice the sensitivity at the expense of some spatial resolution degradation. The depth-of-interaction study also shows that event size and amplitude vary with scintillator thickness, which can assist in future detector simulations and 3D-interaction-position estimation.

Nondestructive method for quantifying thallium dopant concentrations in CsI:Tl crystals.

We report a quantitative method for using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to nondestructively measure the true content of Tl dopant in CsI:Tl scintillator crystals. The instrument is the handheld LeadTracer™, originally developed at RMD Instruments for measuring Pb concentration in electronic components. We describe both the measurement technique and specific findings on how changes in crystal size and growth parameters affect Tl concentration. This method is also applicable to numerous other activator ions important to scintillators, such as Ce(3+) and Eu(2+).