Research on additional external exposure dose rate measurement by in-situ HPGe γ spectrometer

A spectrometric method for additional exposure dose rate (external dose rate due to γ-ray emitted by artificial nuclides) measurement is introduced. The principle of this method is that: strip off the spectrum attributed to the natural radionuclides from the gamma spectrum collected by in situ HPGe spectrometer, and get the spectrum attributed to the artificial radionuclides, then integrate the stripped spectrum with corresponding spectrum-dose conversion function (G(E) function) values to acquire additional exposure dose rate. Standard spectrums attributed to nuclides in U series, Th series and ⁴⁰K were calibrated by in situ HPGe spectrometer at airborne pads, and the interference caused by other nuclides was eliminated by the inverse matrix calculations. The natural compositions in the spectrum is stripped according to the standard spectrums. Six standard γ-ray sources were used to acquire the response functions of the HPGe spectrometer, then the G(E) function was calculated by the least square method. Finally, the utility of this method was verified by in situ experiment, and the factors that influence the precision of the results are discussed. (author)