Fukushima Soil Sample

[GigaBecquerel]

Hello!

I got a sample of fukushima soil from Luuk and took a few spectra with different detectors.
it has very visible ¹³⁴Cs lines, but of course the ¹³⁷Cs is dominant, with above 30 cps!
Sadly ¹⁵²Eu and others are below my detection threshold.

Here's a spectrum with my LaBr3:Ce detector, showing more of the low energy peaks, including the very strong Ba x-rays

LaBr labeled.PNG (54.37 KiB) Viewed 1369 times

fukushima4.PNG (59.75 KiB) Viewed 1369 times

Here's the same spectrum with my HPGe. It shows more of the higher energy peaks, but is blind to the x-rays:

fukushima1.PNG (58.26 KiB) Viewed 1369 times

fukushima2.PNG (66.09 KiB) Viewed 1369 times

¹³⁴Cs has two pairs of peaks very closely spaced together, only separated by ~5 keV.
Those lines are well divisible on the HPGe and give a nice look into the resolution.

HPGe closeup.PNG (60.72 KiB) Viewed 1369 times

Thanks to its short half life of about 2 years the ¹³⁴Cs is decaying at a visible rate, Luuk made a report about this soil a few years back and the peaks are way stronger!
https://www.gammaspectacular.com/phpBB3 ... p?f=5&t=27

All in all it is a very nice sample, both in the visible and ionizing ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some real historic value behind it!

Best regards,
Lukas

[Go-Figure]

Welcome to the club Lukas,
i couldn't identify the first Cs134 peak in my sample with my 2''x2'' NaI(Tl), I had to do it indirectly.

An HPGe solves a lot of problems, the result is really nice.

Massimo

[GigaBecquerel]

Hello Massimo,

Thank you, now I'm finally one of the cool kids! ;-)
What do you mean by indirectly identifying the peak?

Lukas

[luuk]

Hi Lukas,
Great results with your new LaBr3 detector, it works just perfect!
But my hart opens when I see the HpGe spectra, brings me back to old days a long time ago
when I build and tested them for Harshaw.
Luuk

[GigaBecquerel]

Hi Luuk,

I am really happy how the LaBr turned out!
It really is a good alternative to the HPGe and I'll safe a lot of money on LN2 in the future.
Don't worry, I'll still supply lots of HPGe spectra as I find more interesting samples ;-)

Lukas

[Go-Figure]

Hello Massimo,

Thank you, now I'm finally one of the cool kids! ;-)
What do you mean by indirectly identifying the peak?

Lukas

I meant this https://www.gammaspectacular.com/phpBB3 ... ?f=5&t=517

[GigaBecquerel]

Oh, I see!
That's a very interesting technique I have not thought about before.

I am aware that those are two very different things, but your "cutting out peaks" reminded me of this fun experiment:
http://www.nuclearphysicslab.com/npl/np ... incidence/