Half-life measurements of lutetium-176 using underground HPGe-detectors.

The half-life of (176)Lu was determined by measuring the (176)Lu activity in metallic lutetium foils. Three different HPGe-detectors located 225 m underground were employed for the study. Measurements using the sum-peak method were performed and resulted in an average massic activity of (52.61±0.36) Bq g(-1). The foils were of natural isotopic abundance so using the massic activity and the value of the natural isotopic abundance of (2.59±0.01)%, a half-life of (3.722±0.029)×10(10)a could be calculated.

A new versatile underground gamma-ray spectrometry system.

The newest development in IRMM's underground analytical facility is a large lead shield lined with copper that is versatile and can host several detectors of different types. The characteristics and the background performance of the shield are described for four different detector configurations involving HPGe-detectors and NaI-detectors. The shield has been designed to swap detectors, while still maintaining a low background. This enables testing of detectors for other experiments and optimisation of detection limits for specific radionuclides in different projects.

Comparison of background in underground HPGe-detectors in different lead shield configurations.

In underground HPGe-detector systems where the cosmic ray induced background is low, it is often difficult to assess the location of background sources. In this study, background counting rates of different HPGe-detectors in different lead shields are reported with the aim of better understanding background sources. To further enhance the understanding of the variations of environmental parameters, the background as a function of time over a long period was also studied.