A study of radiocaesium concentrations in the Irish marine environment using a high resolution gamma-ray spectrometer

A selection of marine samples collected in the vicinity of Dublin Bay on the East Coast of Ireland and Galway Bay on the West Coast have been analyzed with a high resolution Compton suppression spectrometer designed for the analysis of low-level environmental samples. Radiocaesium levels in these samples are compared and some preliminary conclusions presented. The principal components of the spectrometer, which is described in detail, are (I) an upward-locking Ge(Li) detector mounted in a special NPR-type cryostat, (II) active shielding in the form of a well detector fashioned from NE102A scintillator and a NaI(T1) detector, (III) an anti-Compton analyzer and (IV) a multichannel analyzer. The multichannel analyzer is interfaced with a 32K microcomputer to a Digital VAX-11/780 computer where up-to-date gamma spectroscopy techniques are employed for the deconvolution of spectra, search and identification of each line and estimation of the activity of each radionuclide. (author)