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Chapter

Gamma Rays: Applications in

Environmental Gamma Dosimetry
and Determination Samples
Gamma-Activities Induced by
Neutrons
Hassane Erramli and Jaouad El Asri

Abstract

Gamma rays are high frequency electromagnetic radiation and therefore carry a
lot of energy. They pass through most types of materials. Only an absorber such as
a lead block or a thick concrete block can stop their transmission. In many alpha
and beta transitions, the residual nucleus is formed in an excited state. The nucleus
can lose its excitation energy and move to a “fundamental level” in several ways.
(a) The most common transition is the emission of electromagnetic radiation, called
gamma radiation. Very often the de-excitation occurs not directly between the
highest level of the nucleus and its basic level, but by “cascades” corresponding to
intermediate energies. (b) The gamma emission can be accompanied or replaced by
the electron emission so-called “internal conversion”, where the energy excess is
transmitted to an electron in the K, L or M shell. (c) Finally, if the available energy
is greater than 2mec2 = 1022 keV, the excited nucleus can create a pair (e+, e ).
The excess energy appears as a kinetic form. This internal materialization process
is very rare. In this chapter we are presenting two applications of gamma rays:
On the one hand, TL dosimeters and field gamma dosimetry are studied, a careful
study of the correcting factors linked to the environmental and experimental
conditions is performed. On the other hand, we are presenting a calculation method
for controlling neutron activation analysis (NAA) experiments. This method
consists of simulating the process of interaction of gamma rays induced by irradia-
tion of various samples.

Keywords: gamma-ray, gamma attenuation, gamma spectroscopy, Monte Carlo

simulation, medicine, industry, TL dosimetry

1. Introduction

The gamma rays are emitted from a nucleus or from the annihilation of positron
with electrons. The most intense sources of gamma rays are radioactive sources.
The photons resulting from de-excitation of nuclei have energies ranging from less
than 1 to about 20 MeV.

1
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

The photons resulting from annihilations event can have much larger energy: the
neutral pion (π0), for example, produce two photons of about 70 MeV.
Gamma rays are ionizing electromagnetic radiation, obtained by the decay of an
atomic nucleus. Gamma rays are more penetrating, in matter, and can damage
living cells to a great extent. Gamma rays are used in medicine (radiotherapy),
industry (sterilization and disinfection) and the nuclear industry. Shielding against
gamma rays is essential because they can cause diseases to skin or blood, eye
disorders and cancers.
The interaction of gamma rays with matter may be divided into three main
categories depending on the energy of the photon. These three mechanisms are the
photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and pair production. All results in the
energy of the photon being transferred to electrons which subsequently lose energy
by further interactions.

2. Origin of the gamma rays

The gamma radiations are constituted by photons, characterized by their energy,

inversely proportional to their wavelength. The gamma rays come from the nuclei
during the nuclear reactions, it is monoenergetics for a given characteristic reaction.
So, the β-decay of the 137Cs to 137Ba produces a gamma radiation of 660 keV. The
β-decay of the 60Co to 60Ni produces a double radiation emission of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV.
Natural gamma radiation sources can be easily divided into three groups according to
their origin. The first group includes potassium (40K) with a half-life of 1.3  109 years,
uranium-238 (238U) with a half-life of 4.4  109 years, uranium-235 (238U) with a half-
life of 7.1  108 years and thorium (232Th) with a half-life of 1.4  1010 years.
The second group includes radioactive isotopes from the first group. Those have
half-lives ranging from small fractions of a second to 104 to 105 years. The third
group will include it isotopes created by external causes, such as the interaction of
cosmic rays with the earth and its atmosphere.

2.1 Gamma radiation production mechanism

The Gamma rays are produced in number of ways:

• Thermal radiation: Only an extremely hot medium (T = 108 K) is likely to

produce gamma radiation. Such media are extremely rare, and this process is
not fundamental to the production of this radiation.

• Inverse Compton effect: During a collision with low energy photon, a

relativistic electron can transfer to it a significant part of its energy, the photon
can then have an energy of 100 MeV.

• The Synchrotron radiation: A relativistic electron spiraling through the force

lines of a magnetic field radiates electromagnetic energy. Thus, energy
electrons 3  108 MeV in a magnetic field of 3  10 6 Gauss will create a
gamma radiation. But, by radiating the electrons lose energy: their lives are
therefore limited.

• Bremsstrahlung or braking radiation: An electron passing near a nucleus is

influenced by its Coulombian field. The deceleration of the electron is
accompanied by a loss of energy in the form of gamma radiation when the
electron has a relativistic speed.

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• Production of meson π0: A meson can be produced during reactions of several

types:

◦ Collision between two protons or a proton and alpha (helium nucleus).

◦ Collision between a proton and an antiproton; if the antimatter exists in the

Universe, the observation of the gamma radiation produced is a method for
detecting it. The meson (π0) then disintegrates into two photons.

• Nucleus de-excitation: Just like an atom or a molecule, a nucleus has energy

levels whose transitions between the least excited levels give rise to gamma
radiation. Such nucleus de-excitation may occur either during the interaction
of a nucleus with neutrinos or during certain thermonuclear reactions.

3. Gamma attenuation

Unlike charged particles that gradually loses up their energy to matter, when
gamma rays traverse matter, some are absorbed, some pass through without inter-
action, and some are scattered as lower energy photons. Electromagnetic radiation
vanishes brutally as a result of interaction. We can no longer talk about a slowdown.
We have to introduce the attenuation notion.
Although a large number of possible interaction mechanisms are known, when
monoenergetic gamma rays are attenuated in the matter, only four major effects are
important: photoelectric effect, Compton effect, elastic or Rayleigh scattering and
pair production (with a threshold energy of 1022 keV).
The probability which has a photon of energy given to undergo an interaction
during the penetrating in a given material is represented by the attenuation coeffi-
cient for this material absorber. The more range of gamma rays in the absorber is
long, the more the interaction probability increases. The attenuation coefficient is
the sum of coefficients of the various interaction modes (Compton, photoelectric,
pair production), the proportion of each of these effects varying with the radiation
energy and nature of the absorber.

3.1 Attenuation law

When a narrow beam of N0 (number of photons/unit area) monoenergetic

photons with energy E0 passes through an homogeneous absorber of thickness x,
the number of photons that reach a depth (in cm) without having an interaction is
given by:

μðρ;Z;EÞx
N ¼ N0 e (1)

where μ (in cm) is the linear attenuation coefficient for material of physical
density (in g/cm3) and atomic number Z.
The total linear attenuation coefficient can be decomposed into the contribu-
tions from each above described mode of photon interaction as:

μtot ¼ μph þ μC þ μcoh þ μp (2)

where μph , μC , μcoh and μp are the attenuation coefficient for photoelectric effect,
Compton scattering, Rayleigh scattering and pair production respectively. Although
linear attenuation coefficients are convenient for engineering applications and

3
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

shielding calculations, they are proportional to the density of the absorber, which
depends on the physical state of the material.
The relationship (1) can be written as:
μðZ;ρÞ
N ¼ N 0 e ð ρ Þρx (3)

where μ/ρ (in cm2/g) is the mass attenuation coefficient.

If the absorber is a chemical compound or mixture, its mass attenuation
coefficient μ/ρ can be approximately evaluated form the coefficients for
the constituent elements according to the weights sum



μ μ
¼∑ wi (4)
ρ compound i ρ i

where wi is the proportion by weight of the ith constituent the material.

The mass attenuation coefficient of a compound or a mixture can be, therefore,
calculated from the mass attenuation coefficient of the components [1].
The total linear attenuation coefficient, μcompound or mixture of the compound or
mixture can then be simply found by multiplying the total mass attenuation
coefficient, (μ/ρ)compound with its density, ρ. Thus,


μ
μcompound ¼ ρ (5)
ρ compound

Figure 1 shows the linear attenuation of solid sodium iodide, a common material
used in gamma-ray detectors.

3.2 Attenuation coefficients versus atomic number and physical density

The total mass attenuation coefficient μ/ρ is also proportional to the total cross
section per atom σ 2tot . His relation is:

2 


μ 2 cm NA atoms
¼ σ tot : (6)
ρ atom A g

where NA = 6.03  1023 is Avogadro’s number and A is the atomic mass of the
absorber (in g).
Since there are Z electrons per atom:


μ 2 ZN A
¼ σ tot : ¼ σ 2tot :δe
ρ A

where σ 2tot (cm2/electron) is the total cross section per electron and the term
ZN 
A
A
represents the electron density (number of electrons per g).
For all elements except hydrogen, δe approximately equals NA/2 = 3  1023,
because Z/A = ½. For hydrogen, δe is equal to NA, and is therefore twice the
« normal » value.
This indicates that atomic composition dependence of μρ is uncorrelated to the
term δe , and is related to the term σ 2tot . The linear attenuation coefficient μ is,
therfore, approximately depending on Z in the physical density term ρ and
expressly depending on Z in term σ 2tot .

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Figure 1.
Linear attenuation coefficient of NaI showing contributions from photoelectric absorption, Compton scattering,
and pair production [2].

3.3 Calculation of HVL, TVL and relaxation length (λ)

The linear attenuation coefficient is inversely proportional to a quantity called a

half-value layer (HVL), which is the material thickness needed to attenuate the
intensity of the incident photon beam to half of its original value. This means that
when  = HVL, NN0 ¼ 21.
From Eq. (3) it can be shown that:

N0
¼ N 0 e μHVL
2
(7)
ln 2 0:693
HVL ¼ ¼
μ μ
The HVL of a given material thus characterizes the quality (penetrance or
hardness) of a gamma beam.
Figure 2 shows the relationship between the linear attenuation coefficient and
the HVL for a soft tissue [3].

3.4 Calculation of relaxation length (λ)

The average distance between two successive interactions is called the relaxation
length (λ) or the photon mean free path which is determined by the equation:

5
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

ð∞
μx
xe dx
1
λ ¼ ð0∞ ¼ (8)
μx μ
e dx
0

where μ is the linear attenuation coefficient and x is the absorber thickness.

N.B: The relaxation length is the thickness of a shield for which the photon
intensity in a narrow beam is reduced to 1/e (or 0.37) of its original value.

Figure 2.
Relationship between the linear attenuation coefficient and the HVL for a soft tissue.

4. Application field

Apart from the use of nuclear energy for the supply of electricity, the applica-
tions of radioactivity are numerous in many areas: medical physics, earth sciences,
industry and preservation of cultural heritage.
The properties used for these various applications are:

• Time decline of radioactivity

• Radiation emission

• Sensitivity of detection

4.1 Medical physics applications

The major application of radiation in medicine is radiotherapy and/or treatment

by ionizing radiation. A few months after the discovery of X-rays, there is over a
century, it has become clear that biological action radiation could be used in the

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treatment of cancers. Cancers cells divided more quickly are more sensitive, than
normal cells to ionizing radiation. By sending these cells a certain dose of radiation,
it is possible to kill them and eliminate the tumor.

4.2 Sterilization of objects by gamma radiation

• Irradiation of surgical and food material: Irradiation is a privileged means to

destroy micro-organisms (fungi, bacteria, virus…). As a result, many
applications radiation exists for sterilization of objects. For example, most
medical-surgical equipment (disposable syringes, etc.) is today radio-sterilized
by specialized industrialists. Similarly, the treatment by irradiation of food
ingredients allows improve food hygiene: sterilization spices, elimination of
salmonella from shrimp and frog legs. This technics is also known as food
ionization.

• Irradiation of art objects: Treatment with gamma rays helps to eliminate

larvae, insects or bacteria lived inside objects, to protect them from
degradation. This technics is used in the treatment of conservation and
restoration of arts objects, ethnology and archaeology. It is applicable to
different types of materials: wood, stone, leather, etc.

4.3 Industrial applications

• Elaboration of materials: Irradiation causes, under certain conditions,

chemical reactions that allow the development of more resistant materials,
more lightweight, capable of superior performance.

4.4 Gamma rays spectrometry

The development of γ-spectrometry began with the development of nuclear

sciences and technology to meet the needs for the control, characterization and
analysis of radioactive materials. This measurement technics exploits a fundamental
property observed for unstable nuclei: the emission of radiation from the process of
nuclear decay. It is thus known as non-destructive because it respects the integrity
of the object to be analyzed [4].
The interest in γ spectrometry has continued to grow over the years, both from a
point of view metrological and a point of view applications. This development was
made possible by a better understanding of the process of photon interaction with
matter, and especially by the appearance of semiconductor detectors in the 1960s.
Spectrometry γ then became a powerful tool for studying decay patterns. It is now
used in a wide variety of sectors (for example: dating, climatology, astrophysics,
medicine) and in virtually all stages of the fuel cycle.
Photon spectrometry is a commonly used nuclear measurement technique to
identify and quantify gamma emitting radionuclides in a sample. It is non-
destructive and does not require specific sample preparation. Conventional spec-
trometers are designed around semiconductor detectors, usually with high purity
germanium (hyper-pure germanium).
The radionuclides measured by this method emit gamma photons of specific
energies and their interactions with the detector depend on several variables
(geometry or conditioning: physical shape of the object, density, measured quan-
tity, container type, emission energy, size, shape, nature of the detector, etc.).

7
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

5. Example of gamma rays applications

5.1 Environmental gamma dosimetry

The thermoluminescence dating method (TL) requires a very accurate knowl-

edge of the annual radiation doses deposited, in the minerals that are used, by the
alpha, beta, gamma and cosmic rays [5, 6].
In the annual radiation doses, we can distinguish two components:

• internal dose: deposited by the radiations with a short range (alpha and beta)
coming out of the bulk of the sample.

• external dose: deposited by the long range radiations (gamma rays and cosmic)
coming out of the surroundings of the sample.

Gamma-ray dose-rate may be measured by a TL dosimeter. But as this dose is

not valid for the dosimeter itself, corrections must be made to know the one
corresponding to the soil.
These corrections are related to the complexity of the energy spectrum gamma
radiation incidents; their origins are:

• The difference in composition between TL dosimeter and the soil, resulting in

absorption and therefore deposited different doses, especially for an energies
less than 100 keV.

• The capsule enclosing the TL dosimeter induce absorptions of low energy

gamma rays.

The correction factors had already been investigated theoretically [7] and
experimentally [8, 9]. Below, we describe a theoretical evaluation method, for these
factors, which does not require excessive computer time and so can be easily
extended to a wide variety of site conditions.

5.1.1 Environmental conditions

The calculations presented here refer to CaSO4: Dy as dosimeter, and two

encapsulating materials, polyethylene and copper, of various thicknesses
(Figure 3). However, the resulting computer programs can be easily extended to
other materials.
Several kinds of soils were considered. For this case, we retained two extreme
cases of real soils:

• a siliceous soil of low <Z> (<Z> = 11.26), hereafter referred to as ‘S soil’;

• a very calcareous soil of high <Z> (<Z> = 14.07) referred to as ‘C soil’.

The relative energies and intensities of the lines taken into consideration are
given in Table 1 [10]. For the uranium series, the contribution of uranium-235 and
its descendants were taken into account.
The bulk of the calculation therefore comes down to a few dozen successive
numerical integrations, with about 220 steps each time. It is therefore a much

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Figure 3.
TL dosimeter irradiated by an incident γ-ray flux.

lighter and less demanding procedure in computer time than the Monte-Carlo
method for a similar definition.

5.1.2 Outline of the calculations of the dosimeter/soil dose ratio

The ratio ε of the dose deposited in an encapsulated dosimeter by an incident

gamma flux to that deposited in soil by the same flux can be evaluated using the
expression:

ϕðEÞEμa1 :e μa2 t dE
Ð
ε¼ Ð (9)
ϕðEÞEμa3 dE

where E is the photon energy: ϕ(E) is the incident γ-ray flux density (γ per unit
area and unit time); μa1, μa2, μa3 are the total mass absorption coefficients for γ-rays,
respectively in dosimeter, capsule walls, and soil; t is the capsule thickness.
In fact, formula Eq. (9) is only approximate and a more exact formulation is:
 
μ02 t
ÞϕðEÞ þ e μ02 t : σμ02 FðE; E0 ÞϕðE0 ÞdE0 dE
Ð Ð 
Eμa3 fð1 e
02
ε¼ Ð (10)
ϕðEÞEμa3 dE

where μ02 and σ02 are, respectively the total and Compton mass attenuation
coefficients for the encapsulating material; F(E, E’) is the energy distribution of
secondary γ-rays (energy E’) from a Compton interaction induced by a photon of

9
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

Energy (keV) Intensity Energy (keV) Intensity

238 235
U+ U

13 90 768 9

49 30 934 5

75 22 1120 17.5

92 14 1238 8

186 7 1377 8.6

242 10 1509 4.4

295 21 1764 23.3

352 40 2204 8.2

609 49
232
Th

12 79 511 8.6

77 30 583 32.6

87 16 727 7.2

129 7 795 8.5

209 6 911 30

239 48 969 25.4

277 10 1588 11.6

338 16.4 2615 35.8

463 7

Table 1.
U and Th series γ spectra.

energy E. F(E, E’) can be obtained from the well-established Klein and Nishina
cross-section for Compton effect [11].
For the use of these formulas, it is assumed that there is an electronic equilib-
rium, that is, the dimensions of the dosimeter are equal to or greater than the
secondary electron range (of the order of a few mm). Murray [9] showed that this is
verified if the dosimeter mass is greater than 100 mg.
In applying formula Eq. (9), the main difficulty lies in the calculation of the
incident photon flux density ϕ(E). ϕ(E) includes not only the discrete primary
emission spectrum of the considered γ source, but also the continuum spectrum of γ
rays from successive Compton interactions.

5.1.3 Infinite medium γ-ray spectrum

Here one assumes an infinite environment and homogeneous, in which the radio-
elements are evenly distributed. The interactions of gamma rays with the material
taken into consideration are the photoelectric effect and the Compton effect; the pair
production is considered negligible to the considered energies (<2.6 MeV).
Let N0(E) be the primary spectrum (number of photons per unit time and unit
mass of soil). After one interaction, the energy spectrum of secondary γ-rays will be:

σ 01 ðEÞ
ð
0
N 1 ðE Þ ¼ N 0 ðEÞ F ðE; E0 ÞdE (11)
μ01 ðEÞ

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And the ratio of secondary to primary γ-rays is:

 
N 0 ðEÞ: σμ01 :dE
Ð
01
Q1 ¼ Ð (12)
N 0 ðEÞ:dE

In the same way, the spectrum of third generation γ-rays can be deduced from
N2(E), and in a more general manner the following recurrence relations hold:

σ 01 ðEÞ
ð
0
N i ðE Þ ¼ N i 1 ðEÞ: FðE; E0 ÞdE (13)
μ01 ðEÞ

And the total spectrum will be:

∞
N ðEÞ ¼ ∑ N i ðEÞ (14)
i¼1

Of course, there is a rapid decrease with i of the mean γ energy and of the total
energy carried.
Figure 4 an example of various order spectra for 40K.
Practically, the calculation will be stopped at a generation order i such that Q i ≪ 1.
The condition Q i < 10 3 was imposed, corresponding to i = 15–32 according to the
medium involved.
N(E) is the photon spectrum corresponding to the number of photons created
per unit mass; to get ϕ(E), which is the number of incident photons per unit area,
the mean relaxation length λ(E) of photons must be taken into account:

N i ðEÞ
ϕðEÞ ¼ λðEÞ:N ðEÞ ¼ ∑ (15)
μ01

Figure 4.
Computed spectra of secondary γ-rays from 40K after 1, 2, 5, 10 Compton interactions [5].

11
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

1
ðWithÞ : λðEÞ ¼
μ01

The value of absorption or attenuation coefficients was obtained for the

Compton effect from the Klein-Nishina formula.
For the photoelectric effect, they were deduced from the data of Hubbell [12].
Some typical spectra are shown in Figure 5 for 40K. The low energy cut-off is
determined by photoelectric effect and occurs at higher energy for high-Z media.
And for 232Th in pure water (Figure 6).
In the case of water, a “light” medium and a strong low energy ray contribution
(below 100 keV) can be noticed. Similar features are also noticed for the more
complex case of U and Th series.
These spectra show the overlapping of the primary ray spectrum and the
degraded continuous spectrum, which carry most of the energy (60%).
There is a similarity in the degraded spectrum, even for two very different
gamma sources (for example, thorium and potassim-40). On the other hand, the
degraded spectrum is higher in energy as the <Z> of the medium is high: this is due
to the increasing influence of the photoelectric effect which “cuts” the low gamma
ray energy.
Our results are in good agreement with those obtained by G. Valladas [7] by the
Monte-Carlo method for potassium-40 in siliceous medium.

Figure 5.
Computed energy spectra for 40K in (a) dry C soil, (b) wet S soil, and (c) pure water [5].

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Figure 6.
Computed energy spectra for 232Th in pure water [5].

5.1.4 Dosimeter to soil dose ratio for infinite homogeneous soils

The calculation of ε was done for the list of floors already cited (from the gamma
ray energy spectra already calculated), for the three radiation sources and for two
types of 1 g/cm2 thick absorbers, sufficient to stop beta radiation.

• Copper, <Z > medium, frequently used

• Polyethylene, <Z > low

The results are given in Table 2. Calculations are performed here with, as a TL
dosimeter, CaSO4: Dy, but are readily feasible for any combination of known
dosimeters and compositions.
It can be found that ε it may be less than or greater than 1; two antagonistic
effects act: on the one hand, the absorption by the walls, which tends to decrease ε
on the other hand, the difference in nature between soil and TL dosimeter which
has the opposite effect, the coefficient of absorption of the dosimeter being
the highest.
The dispersal of the value of ε is smaller between the different soil for a copper
capsule than for a polyethylene capsule. This can be explained by the fact that
copper absorbs the lower part of the spectrum of energy for which the difference
dose between the dosimeter and the soil is significant.

13
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

40
Surrounding media K Uranium Thorium

Encapsulating Encapsulating Encapsulating

Polyethylene Copper Polyethylene Copper Polyethylene Copper

C soil 0.96 0.95 0.94 0.89 0.95 0.91

C soil + 15% water 0.97 0.95 0.96 0.90 0.96 0.91

S soil 1.03 0.97 1.10 0.95 1.08 0.96

S soil + 15% water 1.05 0.98 1.13 0.96 1.11 0.97

S soil + 30% water 1.06 0.98 1.16 0.97 1.14 0.98

S soil + 50% water 1.07 0.96 1.20 0.95 1.17 0.96

Pure water 1.35 1.01 1.82 1.03 1.70 1.03

Table 2.
2
Values of ε for infinite uniform medium with 1 g m capsule wall thickness [5].

For a copper capsule, the difference of ε between dry a soil and moderately wet
(e.g., less than 15% water) is negligible (less than 1%); therefore, it is not necessary
in this case to know exactly the soil humidity to perform the correction, which is
an advantage.
In practice, the limestone soil and the siliceous soil are two extreme cases, which
make only a difference of 5% for copper on the value of ε, so only a coarse knowledge
of the cashing medium is necessary for the calculation of e with an high accuracy.
The variations of ε for 40K with the absorber or medium are less important than
for uranium or thorium. This is due to a smaller contribution of low energies to the
40
K spectrum (no low energy lines).
An important consequence of the foregoing is that, for the experimenter, copper
(or a close material) is well used when the composition (especially moisture) of
the soil is not well known. The error made a priori on the value of ε will thus be
reduced.
On the other hand, in most cases, the dispersion on ε related to the relative
intensity of the three gamma radiation sources is insignificant. Indeed, the potas-
sium-40, uranium and thorium series generally intervene for approximately 1/3
each, and significant deviations from this proportion are rare.
In general, it is difficult to determine the respective contribution of the potas-
sium-40, uranium and thorium series to the total dose rate. However, in most cases,
the contribution of these three radioelements does not exceed 60% and approxi-
mate values on the whole with acceptable dispersion may be proposed.
For example,

• ε = 0.97  0.01 for S soil + 15% water

• ε = 0.92  0.01 for dry C soil.

The results obtained with our program under the same conditions regarding the
dosimeter, the surrounding environment, the capsules and the sources of the
gamma rays are slightly superior to the theoretical results of G. Valladas [7]. This
small difference (in the order of 3%) can be explained by the fact that the nominal
values for capsule thickness have been used instead of the mean values which take
into account geometry, also to a lesser extent by the fact that self-absorption has not
been taken into account in our calculation. The effect of this last correction was
estimated to be less than 1%.

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5.2 Calculation method adapted to the experimental conditions for determining

samples γ-activities induced by 14 MeV neutrons

5.2.1 Introduction

The gamma radiation self-absorption coefficient is of great interest in activation

analysis. Since it is difficult to measure this coefficient, various calculation methods
have been developed.
Measuring the self-absorption coefficient is not a simple thing. The physicists
who have faced this problem, for a long time, have always used methods of statis-
tical or non-statistical computation: Parallel beam methods, Monte-Carlo method
and many other methods. For our part, we have developed an original technique
calculating the self-absorption coefficient of multienergetic γ-radiations [13].
In this chapter, we are presenting a method that we have developed, this which
allows us control and calibrate the activation analysis experiments [13]. This
method consists of simulating the interaction processes of gamma rays induced by
neutron activation of various samples by using the Monte Carlo method adapted to
experimental conditions.

5.2.2 Samples and standards induced gamma-activities

Different disk shaped red beet samples and standards were irradiated with
14 MeV neutrons. Standards were prepared by mixing pure graphite and high
purity chemical compounds powders (NaCl, Na2HPO4 and K2CO3) [14]. The
induced gamma activities on the sodium, potassium, chlorine and phosphorus ele-
ments have been experimentally measured by means of hyper-pure germanium
spectrometer.
The analyzed beet samples and standards have a 23 mm diameter and a 6 mm
thickness.
The different parameters of the nuclear reactions used (cross section, isotopic
abundance, etc.) are summarized in Table 3.
After the irradiation (irradiation time = tirr) and cooling times (td), the number
of produced radionuclides is given by:

TN 0 σϕ  ð Þ

: e ð T Þtd
ln2 ln2
tirr
N ðtirr þ td Þ ¼ θIγ 1 e T (16)
ln 2
where σ is the nuclear reaction cross section, N0 is the number of target nuclei, T
is the half-life of the produced radionuclide, θ is the isotopic abundance of the
studied element, Iγ, is the emitted gamma rays intensity and ϕ the neutron flux. To
take into account
 the activity
 measuring time, relation Eq. (16) should be multiplied
by the term 1 e ð T Þ m .
ln2
t

Element θ (%) Nuclear reaction σ (mb) T Eγ (keV) (Iγ %) tirr (s) td (s) tm (s)
23
Na 100 Na(n, p)23Ne 43  5 38.0 s 440 (33%) 200 30 200
35 34m
Cl 75.5 Cl(n, 2n) Cl 43  5 32.4 min 146.5 (45%) 600 30 600
31
P 92.2 P(p, α)28Al 43  5 2.30 min 1779 (100%) 600 30 600
39
K 93.1 K(n, 2n)38gK 43  5 7.70 min 2167 (100%) 600 30 600

Table 3.
The produced nuclear reactions by irradiating the samples (standards) with 14 MeV neutrons.

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Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

5.2.3 Calculation method

The transmission probability of a gamma photon generated from point P1

(Figure 7) after crossing a path length l1 = P1S1 in a homogeneous disk shaped
sample (standard) of radius Rt in cm, depth D in cm, and density ρ1 in g.cm 3 is
given by:

μ1 l 1
Pðl1 Þ ¼ e

where μ1 is the total attenuation coefficient of the gamma rays in the irradiated
sample.
The interaction probability of a gamma photon after crossing a path l2 = Q2S2
(Figure 7) in a disk shaped detector of radius R2 in cm, depth e in cm and density ρ2
in g.cm 3 is given by:

μ2 l2
 
P ðI 2 Þ ¼ 1 e (17)

where μ2 is the total attenuation coefficient of the gamma photon in the detector.
The absorption probability of a gamma photon in the detector is given by:

μ1 l 1 μ2 l 2
 
P¼e 1 e (18)

Consequently the detection rate for N photons is:

1 N μ1 l1i
 μ2 l2i

ω¼ ∑e 1 e (19)
N i¼1

Figure 7.
The irradiated sample (standard) to γ-detector arrangement used in the activities calculation.

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Gamma Rays: Applications in Environmental Gamma Dosimetry and Determination Samples…
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85503

By combining relations Eq. (16) and Eq. (19) we get the number of the detected
gamma rays.

TN 0 σϕ    
e ð T Þtirr : e ð T Þtd : 1 e ð T Þtm
ln2 ln2 ln2
Nc ¼ θIγ ω 1 (20)
ln 2

The total attenuation coefficients are calculated by using respectively the Klein-
Nishina theory formula [12], Allen Brodsky’s approximation [15], and Max Born’s
approximation [16], for the Compton, photoelectric and pair production effects.
The calculation of the paths lengths l1 and 12 consists firstly on generating
random numbers by using a programme based on a congruentia 1 method.
The path length l1 is given by [17]:

t
8
>
< if R1 ≥ O01 O1
l1 ¼ cosθ
lðr; θ; ψ Þ if R1 , O01 O1
>
:

where:
2
O01 O1 ¼ r21 þ t2 : tan 2 ðθÞ þ 2r1 :t:tang ðθÞ: cos ðψ Þ
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
R21 r21 sin 2 ðψ Þ r1 cos ðψ Þ
And : lðr; θ; ψ Þ ¼
sin ðθÞ

The uniform random sampling of the emission point P1 and emission direction is
achieved by computing the distance from the center r1, the depth t, cos(θ) and ψ,
with four uniform random numbers [17]:
pffiffiffiffi
r 1 ¼ R1 ξ1
t ¼ Dξ2
cos ðθÞ ¼ ξ3
ψ ¼ 2πξ4
ðWithÞ 0 ≤ ξi ≤ 1

We have developed the following theory to calculate the path length 12 which is
given by:
8
>
> 0 if R2 ≤ O2 Q 2
>
< e
>
if R2 . O2 Q 2 and R2 ≥ O02 Q 3
>
> cosθ
>
>
X 2 if O2 Q 2 , R2 , O02 Q 3
:

where
2
O2 Q 2 ¼ r21 þ ðt þ hÞ2 : tan 2 ðθÞ þ 2r1 :ðt þ hÞ:tang ðθÞ: cos ðψ Þ
2
O02 Q 3 ¼ r22 þ e2 : tan 2 ðθÞ þ 2r2 :e:tang ðθÞ: cos ðψ Þ

h is the distance between the sample and the detector (Figure 7). r2 is the
distance from the axis of the detector and:

17
Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

Figure 8.
Scheme shows changes in gamma-ray direction in the case of multiple interactions.
8
>
> 0 if tan θ ≥ tan θmax
< qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
X2 ¼ R22 r22 sin 2 φ r2 cosφ
if  tanθ , tan θmax
>
>
:
sinθ
R2 R1
ðWithÞ tan θmax ¼
tþh
To complete this study, we have developed another program based on the EGC
method [18]. This program results in determining the energy loss predominant
phenomenon that occurs when gamma rays interact with the absorber.
For this, we compare the range x to the relaxation length (λ) of the γ-rays in the
material (Figure 8).

5.3 Results and discussions

The measured Nm and calculated Nc activities of some different irradiated stan-

dards containing Na, K, Cl, and P are shown in Table 4.

Element Element mass (mg) ϕ Nm Nc R ¼ NNmc

Na 0.51 1.0  107 50  7 58.0  0.2 1.16

K 2.32 2.3  108 17  4 14  0.1 1

8
Cl 0.92 5.0  10 447  21 432  1 0.96

P 1.61 2.0  109 2533  50 2700  5 1.06

Table 4.
Data obtained for different irradiated standards with a 14 MeV neutron flux by experimental Nm and
calculation Nc methods.

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Gamma Rays: Applications in Environmental Gamma Dosimetry and Determination Samples…
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.85503

We notice that the results obtained by the two methods (experimental and
calculation) are in good agreement with each other. The calculation method has the
advantage of being accurate (error is smaller than 3%) and rapid (the calculation
time is of about 2 min).

6. Conclusion

In the first part of the chapter, a careful study of the correcting factors linked to
the environmental and experimental conditions is performed.
In the second part, the calculation method was developed. It is very accurate,
rapid, adapted to the experimental conditions, it does not necessitate the use of a
very expensive detection chain, and can be used to determine the trace element
concentrations in materials. This technique is a good test for neutron activation
analysis experiments. It allows these experiments to be calibrated in cases where it
is difficult to achieve standards.

Author details

Hassane Erramli1* and Jaouad El Asri2

1 Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, University Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco

2 Nuclear Reactor and Nuclear Security, Faculty of Sciences, University

Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

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Use of Gamma Radiation Techniques in Peaceful Applications

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