IFIN-HH ionization chamber calibration and its validation; electrometric system improvement.

The paper presents the results obtained in the calibration of the CENTRONIC IG12/20A ionization chamber for 18 gamma ray emitters, and its improvement with a Keithley 6517A electrometer. The calibration figures were determined either directly in pA MBq(-1) units, or calculated from old units, by using the system capacity value. The calibration figures, determined with RML's standards, are compared with those deduced from the KCRV or the mean of the comparisons, and the values determined at PTB-Germany.

The 222Rn standard system established at IFIN-HH, Romania.

The paper presents the (222)Rn Standard System realized at the Radionuclide Metrology Laboratory from IFIN-HH, Romania. It contains a Pylon solid (226)Ra source, and a glass circuit for circulation and recovery of (222)Rn in glass ampoules, at the 77K temperature. The radon can be recovered both in ampoules with liquid scintillator (LS), for absolute standardization of (222)Rn by liquid scintillation counting (LSC) (Cassette et al., 2006), and in evacuated ampoules as gas, simultaneously or by the transfer of radon from gas into LS ampoules, in order to establish the traceability chain. The absolute standardization consists in the registration of the double coincidence counting rate in LS, due to the whole sequence of short life components of the (222)Rn chain, in equilibrium conditions. The main correction applied to the measurement results is due to the decay of (214)Po during the extendable dead time of the system. The following procedure was applied to take it into account. The value of the base duration of the dead time was precisely measured and used for the data corrections. The measurements of each source were repeated during a period of several days, and the decay curve parameters were calculated. If the dead time value and the correction formulae, presented throughout the paper, were adequate, then the re-determination of the (222)Rn half life, T(1/2)=(3.8232+/-0.0008) d, using the decay curve of the corrected counting rates should be correct. On the other hand, the effective dead time values obtained by parallel calculations were compared. The paper presents the results obtained in the standardization of several sources, by LSC, and the evaluation of the uncertainties associated to the method.

International exercise on 124Sb photon emission intensities determination.

An international exercise, registered as EUROMET project no. 907, was launched to measure both the activity of a solution of (124)Sb and the photon emission intensities of its decay. The same solution was sent by LNE-LNHB to eight participating laboratories, six of which sent results for photon emission intensities both in absolute and in relative terms. From these results and including previous published values, a consistent decay scheme was worked out, proving that problems in activity measurements have not been due to decay scheme data.

International exercise on 124Sb activity measurements.

An international exercise, registered as EUROMET project no. 907, was launched to measure both the activity of a solution of (124)Sb and the photon emission intensities of its decay. The same solution was sent by LNE-LNHB to eight participating laboratories. In order to identify possible biases, the participants were asked to use all possible activity measurement methods available in their laboratory and then to determine their reference value for comparison. Thus, measurement results from 4pibeta-gamma coincidence/anti-coincidence counting, CIEMAT/NIST liquid-scintillation counting, 4pigamma counting with well-type ionization chambers and well-type crystal detectors were given. The results are compared and show a maximum discrepancy of about 1.6%: possible explanations are proposed.

Activity measurements of technically enhanced naturally occurring radionuclides (TENORM) in phosphogypsum.

Phosphogypsum is a by-product of the phosphoric acid based fertilizer industry; it can be used in agriculture and to make building materials. Phosphogypsum is radioactive due to the presence of technically enhanced naturally occurring radionuclides (TENORM) and its environmental impact is a major concern of the public authorities. The Radionuclide Metrology Laboratory from IFIN-HH participated at the IAEA-CU-2007-06-CCRI(II)-S5 Supplementary Comparison for the Determination of TENORM in phosphogypsum. The measurement procedures and the discussion of results and problems encountered are presented.