KEYWORDS: Sensors, Germanium, Spectroscopy, Gamma radiation, Plutonium, Spectrometers, Crystals, Temperature metrology, Electrons, Electric field sensors
A new class of hand-held, portable spectrometers based on large area (1cm2) CdTe detectors of thickness up to 3mm has been demonstrated to produce energy resolution of between 0.3 and 0.5% FWHM at 662 keV. The system uses a charge loss correction circuit for improved efficiency, and detector temperature stabilization to ensure consistent operation of the detector during field measurements over a wide range of ambient temperature. The system can operate continuously for up to 8hrs on rechargeable batteries. The signal output from the charge loss corrector is compatible with most analog and digital spectroscopy amplifiers and multi channel analyzers. Using a detector measuring 11.2 by 9.1 by 2.13 mm3, we have recently been able to obtain the first wide-range plutonium gamma-ray isotopic analysis with other than a cryogenically cooled germanium spectrometer. The CdTe spectrometer is capable of measuring small plutonium reference samples in about one hour, covering the range from low to high burnup. The isotopic analysis software used to obtain these results was FRAM Version 4 from LANL. The new spectrometer is expected to be useful for low-grade assay, as well as for some in-situ plutonium gamma-ray isotopics in lieu of cryogenically cooled Ge.
CdTe and CdZnTe detectors provide unique opportunities to solve difficult measurement tasks in international safeguards and related applications. Their development has been supported by the IAEA since more than a decade. Significant progress can be reported in the fields of development of high resolution pin type CdTe detectors (HRCD) and in the development of large volume hemispheric CdZnTe detectors.
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