[ RadSafe ] Europium-152 identified instead of Bismuth-214

[Brad Keck]

Hi Michael,

The most straightforward way to eliminate Eu-152 would be to look for its
other characteristic gamma energies - I believe these are 344 and 779 keV.
If they are present, then you may have real Eu-152.  However, if they are
absent, and the 1408 is accounted for by the Bi-214, then you are correctly
excluding the Eu-152 as the source.  

Hope this helps,

Brad 


Bradly D. Keck, PhD, CHP
Chief Technology Officer
Vitalea Science, Inc.
2121 Second Street, Suite B101
Davis CA 95618

Ph: 530-341-0208
Fx: 530-341-0299
brad.keck at vitaleascience.com



-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Michael McNaughton
Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 9:21 AM
To: edmond0033 at comcast.net
Cc: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Europium-152 identified instead of Bismuth-214

My apologies; yes, I meant Eu-152.

At 10:04 AM 3/24/2009, edmond0033 at comcast.net wrote:

>I believe you meant Eu-152.
>
>Ed Baratta
>
><mailto:edmond0033 at comcast.net>edmond0033 at comcast.net
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Michael McNaughton" <mcnaught at lanl.gov>
>To: radsafe at radlab.nl
>Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 11:58:16 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>Subject: [ RadSafe ] Europium-252 identified instead of Bismuth-214
>
>Dear Radsafers
>
>I have some soil samples for which I think Bismuth-214 is incorrectly
>identified as Europium-252. Is this a well-known problem?
>
>The gamma-spec software found a small peak near 1408 keV and reported
>it as 0.4 pCi/g of Europium-252, though it did not find any other
>Europium-252 peaks. The sample contains about 3 pCi/g of Bismuth-214,
>and has large peaks at 609 keV, 1120 keV, and 1765 keV, so I think
>the small peak at 1408 keV is probably from Bismuth 214. The relative
>sizes of the peaks correspond to the relative probabilities of decay
>for Bismuth-214.
>
>I would be interested in discussing this problem with gamma-spec experts.
>
>Thanks, mike
>
>Mike McNaughton
>Los Alamos National Lab.
>email: mcnaught at LANL.gov or mcnaughton at LANL.gov
>phone: 505-667-6130; page: 505-664-7733

Mike McNaughton
Los Alamos National Lab.
email: mcnaught at LANL.gov or mcnaughton at LANL.gov
phone: 505-667-6130; page: 505-664-7733 

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