The effect of energy resolution on the extraction of information content from gamma-ray spectra

Rapid unambiguous identification of illicit radioactive materials is a matter of international concern that has yet to be fully attained. This is particularly true for shielded fissile materials in the presence of background radiation and routinely encountered benign radionuclides. We present a systematic treatment of the effect of detector resolution on the identification of nuclides in simple and complex shielded γ-ray spectra. Case studies of some problematic spectra with 1000 counts suggest that, at moderate count rates, near-unambiguous identification (<1% probability of misidentification) of potential fissile sources requires a detector with an energy resolution of at least 1–2% at 662 keV. While somewhat limited in scope, the study establishes a quantitative basis for the comparative evaluation of detectors of comparable efficiency.