Comparison of ionization chamber efficiencies for activity measurements

The calibration of ionization chamber measuring systems in terms of activity is described. The energy-dependent efficiency curves of three chambers at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, the National Physical Laboratory and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt are determined and compared using a fitting procedure for the experimental radionuclide efficiencies by the Microsoft (MS) EXCEL Solver program. An estimation of the uncertainty of the efficiency curves and the deviations of experimental and calculated radionuclide efficiencies are given. By this fitting method, discrepancies in the efficiency determination can be detected at a level of about one percent. Systematic deviations entering into the calculations either from emission probabilities per decay or from absolute activity standardization are discussed.