Absolute Efficiency Calibration of a Beta-Gamma Detector

Identification and quantification of nuclear events such as the Fukushima reactor failure and nuclear explosions rely heavily on the accurate measurement of radioxenon releases. One radioxenon detection method depends on detecting beta-gamma coincident events paired with a stable xenon measurement to determine the concentration of a plume. Like all measurements, the beta-gamma method relies on knowing the detection efficiency for each isotope measured. Several methods are commonly used to characterize the detection efficiency for a beta-gamma detector. The first and easiest method is to use a traceable (e.g., NIST) gamma standard to determine the detection efficiency. A second method determines the detection efficiencies relative to an already characterized detector. Finally, a potentially more accurate method is to use isotopes that the system is intended to measure and the form the system is intended to measure to perform an absolute efficiency calibration; in the case of a beta-gamma detector, this relies on radioxenon gas samples. The complication of the first method is it focuses only on the gamma detectors and does not offer a solution for determining the beta efficiency. The second method listed is not similarly constrained, however it relies on another detector to have a well-known efficiency calibration. The final method using actual radioxenon samples to make an absolute efficiency determination is the most desirable, but until recently, it was not possible to produce all four isotopically pure radioxenon isotopes. The production, by University of Texas (UT), of isotopically pure radioxenon has allowed the beta-gamma detectors to be calibrated using the absolute efficiency method. The first four radioxenon isotope calibration will be discussed in this paper.