Method applied for the HPGe detector

Gamma ray spectrometry is a passive non destructive assay most commonly used to identify and quantify the radionuclides present in the complex huge objects such as nuclear waste packages. The treatment of spectra from the measurement of nuclear waste is performed in two steps: the first step is to extract the raw data from the spectra (energies and net photoelectric absorption peaks areas) and the second step is to determine the detection efficiency of the measured scene. The establishment by numerical modeling of the detection efficiency of the measured scene requires numerical modeling of both the measuring device (in this case a hyper pure germanium detector HPGe) and numerical modeling of the measured object. Numerical detector modeling is also called diode characterization, and has a spatial response equivalent to these of the real HPGe detector. This characterization is essential for the quantification of complex and non reproducible huge objects for which the detection efficiency can not be determined empirically. The Nuclear Measurement and Valuation Laboratory (LMNE) at the Atomic Energy Commission Valduc (CEA Valduc) has developed a new methodology for characterizing the HPGe detector. It has been tested experimentally with a real diode present in the laboratory (P-type planar detector). The characterization obtained with this methodology is similar to these of a real HPGe detector with an uncertainty approaching 5 percents. It is valid for a distance ranging from 10cm to 150cm, an angle ranging from 0 to 90 degrees and energy range from 53kev to 1112keV. The energy range is obtained with a source of Barium133 and a source of Europium152. The continuity of the detection efficiency curve is checked between the two sources with an uncertainty less than 2 percents. In addition, this methodology can be extrapolated to any type of detector crystal geometry (planar).