Absorption and backscatter of internal conversion electrons in the measurements of surface contamination of 137Cs

Abstract

We measured 4π and 2π counting efficiencies for internal conversion electrons (ICEs), gross β-particles and also β-rays alone with various source conditions regarding absorber and backing foil thickness using e-X coincidence technique. Dominant differences regarding the penetration, attenuation and backscattering properties among ICEs and β-rays were revealed. Although the abundance of internal conversion electrons of 137Cs-137Ba is only 9.35%, 60% of gross counts may be attributed to ICEs in worse source conditions. This information will be useful for radionuclide metrology and for surface contamination monitoring.