The measurement of detection efficiencies and Co-60 radioactivity by means of a Ge(Li) spectrometer

Using the method of a photo-peak-area analysis, the detection efficiencies and the radioactivity of a Co-60 isotope have been measured by means of a Ge(Li) spectrometer connected with a computer based multichannel analyzer. The results indicate that the Ge(Li) detector has a very high energy resolution, 2.13 keV FWHM at the energy 1332.50 keV, and measured efficiencies are in good agreement with the calculated ones in energy region above 500 keV. The activity determined in the present work is 3.369 (+-0.01)μCi. This agrees well with the value 3.371 (+-0.02)μCi of a standard source. It is shown that the radioactivity can be measured within 2% error for the Co-60 isotope by the Ge(Li) spectrometer. (author)