210Pb measurement in soils - a comparison of gamma ray spectrometry and alpha counting methods

An inter comparison study of two measurement techniques of 210Pb, gamma spectrometry and radiochemical separation followed by alpha counting of 210Po, has been made for soil samples collected from several locations of West Coast of India. The advantages and disadvantages of both the techniques are discussed in the paper. Results showed that gamma ray spectrometry performed using the n-type detector can yield results that are comparable to those obtained from radiochemical separation and alpha counting method. (author)