Activity determination without tracers in high-resolution alpha-particle spectrometry

Abstract

High-resolution alpha spectrometry was applied for the activity determination of 10 reference sources containing different amounts of 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu and 242Pu. They were analyzed as blind sources using a novel spectrum analysis tool ADAM. The information needed in the spectrum unfolding was taken only from the spectrum under investigation, and no tracers were applied. Therefore, a Monte Carlo program AASI was used to compute geometrical detection efficiency of the measurement setup. All reported activities corresponded to those of the reference sources within expanded uncertainty. The developed tools can be used for the activity determination in nondestructive alpha spectrometry or when the radionuclide composition does not change during the sample processing.