Characterisation of a radionuclide specific laboratory detector system for the metallurgical industry by Monte Carlo simulations

One of the outputs of the European Metrology Research Programme project "Ionising radiation metrology for the metallurgical industry" (MetroMetal) was a recommendation on a novel radionuclide specific detector system optimised for the measurement of radioactivity in metallurgical samples. The detection efficiency of the recommended system for the standards of cast steel, slag and fume dust developed within the project was characterized by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations performed using different MC codes. Capabilities of MC codes were also tested for simulation of true coincidence summing (TCS) effects for several radionuclides of interest in the metallurgical industry. The TCS correction factors reached up to 32% showing that the TCS effects are of high importance in close measurement geometries met in routine analyses of metallurgical samples. - Highlights: • The recommended laboratory detector is an extended-range germanium semiconductor detector with the relative efficiency of 30%–40%. • Capabilities of different Monte Carlo codes to determine true coincidence summing corrections were compared. • Identical model of the recommended laboratory detector system implemented in different Monte Carlo codes is freely available to end-users.