Re: Shopping for portable gamma spec system

[Michael McNaughton <mcnaught@lanl.gov>]

Based on my experience, the ID software is overwhelmed when there are
several radionuclides present. They do well with a Cs-137 or Co-60 source.
In the field, they can usually find K-40 because the gamma energy is far
removed from most of the background; but the multitude of uranium and
thorium daughters are too much. In summary, if you have knowledgeable
people who can interpret the results, I think you won't need the ID software.

mike

At 08:32 AM 7/21/00 -0500, you wrote:
>We're shopping around for a very portable gamma spec system that could be
used in the field to do simple radionuclide IDs.  I have seen 3 or 4
different brands, ranging from about $2000 to $7500, all with NaI
detectors.  The more expensive units have radionuclide libraries and
radionuclide ID software.  The less expensive one gives you a spectrum and
some storage capability, but no fancy ID capability.  

Mike McNaughton
email: mcnaught@LANL.gov or mcnaughton@LANL.gov
phone: (505)667-6130
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html