Measurement of radioactive samples in Marinelli beakers by gamma-ray spectrometry

Radioactivity measurement of environmental samples is frequently assayed by gamma-ray spectrometry using Marinelli beakers. In this work, self-absorption and coincidence summing effects arising in activity measurements for Marinelli beaker geometry have been studied with a Ge detector. Three types of Marinelli beakers which have capacities of 450 mL, 1 L, and 2 L were developed. Self-attenuation effects for density variation of radioactive samples in each type of the Marinelli bakers were measured as a function of gamma-ray energy, and also the results were compared with calculated values by mathematical model. Meanwhile, the coincidence summing effects of 125Sb and 154Eu nuclides were obtained from the determination of the full-energy peak and total efficiencies for a Ge detector. (author) 7 refs.; 5 figs.; 1 tab