Radiopurity control in the NEXT-100 double beta decay experiment: procedures and initial measurements

V Álvarez ,J M Hauptman ,J Martín-Albo ,M Sorel ,Julio Pérez Díaz ,L Labarga ,M Nebot-Guinot ,A Marí ,A Simón ,R Webb ,D.c Herrera ,D Shuman ,D González-Díaz ,J Muñoz Vidal ,I Liubarsky ,J.f.c.a Veloso ,A Gil ,C.a.n Conde ,L.m Moutinho ,H Natal Da Luz ,A Martínez ,V M Gehman ,Llorenç Serra ,H Gómez ,A L Ferreira ,T Dafní ,D R Nygren ,Javier Laso Pérez ,M S Egorov ,J Torrent ,T Miller ,J.a Villar ,A Tomás ,I Bandac ,José L Pérez-Aparicio ,P Evtoukhovitch ,F.i.g.m Borges ,G Navarro ,J.j Gómez-Cadenas ,Francisco Mora ,M A M A Jinete,Rafael Gutiérrez ,Z Tsamalaidze ,Alejandro Soto Rodríguez ,J A Hernando Morata ,G Luzón ,S Cárcel ,D Lorca ,S Cebrián ,M Losada ,F.p Santos ,A Órtiz De Solórzano ,A Cervera ,C Sofka ,C M B Monteiro ,I.g Irastorza ,F Monrabal ,C Oliveira ,R Esteve ,A Moiseenko ,J Rodríguez ,E.d.c Freitas ,L Seguí ,J Castel ,J T White ,A Bettini ,Roberto Palma ,L M P Fernandes ,L Ripoll ,J.m.f Dos Santos ,D Domínguez Vázquez ,J.f Toledo ,J A M Lopes ,A Goldschmidt ,A Laing ,P Ferrario ,F.j Iguaz ,J Renner ,T.h.v.t Dias ,N Yahlali

doi:10.1088/1748-0221/8/01/t01002

Abstract

The ``Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon Time-ProjectionChamber'' (NEXT) is intended to investigate the neutrinoless doublebeta decay of 136Xe, which requires a severe suppression ofpotential backgrounds. An extensive screening and material selectionprocess is underway for NEXT since the control of the radiopuritylevels of the materials to be used in the experimental set-up is amust for rare event searches. First measurements based on GlowDischarge Mass Spectrometry and gamma-ray spectroscopy usingultra-low background germanium detectors at the LaboratorioSubterr'aneo de Canfranc (Spain) are described here. Activity resultsfor natural radioactive chains and other common radionuclides aresummarized, being the values obtained for some materials like copperand stainless steel very competitive. The implications of theseresults for the NEXT experiment are also discussed.

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