Gamma Spectrometry Forum

Hi guys,

Between the two of us, Steven and I have collected quite a number of interesting documents regarding gamma spectrometry and associated hardware. The most relevant of these we will share in this post, which might be updated later on.

Feel free to add other gems you might have come across!

Note that all these documents we have found freely on the internet, and is the intellectual property of the respective publisher. We simply list them here as useful resources. Copyright belongs to the respective publisher.

Knoll - Radiation Detection and Measurement
https://indico-tdli.sjtu.edu.cn/event/1 ... dition.pdf
[broken link removed - Steven]

Gilmore - Practical Gamma Ray Spectrometry
https://nna1989.wordpress.com/wp-conten ... y-2008.pdf
https://download.e-bookshelf.de/downloa ... 366164.pdf

NPL / SRP Good Practice Guides https://srp-uk.org/professional-resources/metrology
GPG14 - Examination, Testing and Calibration of Portable Radiation Protection Instruments https://www.npl.co.uk/special-pages/gui ... 4_portable |
GPG30 - Practical Radiation Monitoring https://eprintspublications.npl.co.uk/2538/1/MGPG30.pdf
GPG34 - Radiometric Non-Destructive Assay https://www.npl.co.uk/gpgs/radiometric- ... tive-assay

LANL PANDA Passive Non-Destructive Assay of Nuclear Materials
https://cdn.lanl.gov/files/passive-nond ... _68e9a.pdf

UK Home Office Performance Standards and Test Protocols for Radiological Equipment
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... nitors.pdf

Uncertainty in Gamma Spec
https://indico.ictp.it/event/a06186/ses ... al/0/0.pdf

GUM (Guide to Uncertainty in Measurement): https://www.iso.org/sites/JCGM/GUM-introduction.htm

Standards:
ANSI N42.42 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9264644
ISO/IEC 17025:[broken link removed - Steven]

When I was an undergraduate student taking a nuclear measurements course we used punch cards to load, compile, and execute programs. Gamma spectra were saved onto paper tapes that were read into the computer for analysis and plotting. The analysis programs were fortran. Many of the analysis routines were based upon the text "Data Reduction and Error Analysis" by Bevington. There is a newer version of this book that provides (to my mind) pretty clear explanations for useful analysis methods. Here is a link to a downloadable pdf of the Bevington text (the publisher still maintains a link where example source code can be downloaded) -
https://experimentationlab.berkeley.edu ... ington.pdf

Source code in C++ and fortran along with errata for Bevington's text can be downloaded from the link below -
https://highered.mheducation.com/sites/ ... grams.html

Another text that I found very useful over the years is TID-25951 1973 Reactor Shielding for Nuclear Engineers. A pdf of this book can be downloaded from -
[It seems the previous link to this text was no longer working. Following are a couple of links (via the USNRC and US OSTI) that were working (as of 18 Nov24)]
https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1000/ML100070680.pdf
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4479460
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4479460

Reactor Shielding Design Manual by Rockwell is a classic reference that has many graphs and equations that can be helpful. This document can be downloaded from -
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4360248

Another classic reference, pertaining to nuclear reactors, is ANL-5800 Reactor Physics Constants Second Edition. This report is available for download from -
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4620873


A text book used at the graduate level and covers many of the theoretical aspects of a nuclear reactor is "Nuclear Reactor Theory" by Bell and Glasstone. This book can be downloaded from -
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4074688
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4074688

ARH-600 Criticality Handbook comprised three volumes with a great deal of data and graphs. The calculations were largely performed by the late Roger Carter, Warner Blyckert, and others at the Hanford nuclear site. This handbook is quite useful for dealing with fissile systems. The three volumes can be downloaded from -
Vol I
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4684350
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4684350

Vol II
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4675553
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4675553

Vol III
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4667663
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4667663

More recently work was undertaken to replicate many of the ARH-600 results using more modern computational programs and data. The SCALE code package from the ORNL was used to replicate the ARH-600 work. Documentation of this work can be found at -
SCALE Calculations Replicating ARH-600 Data
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1886624
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1886624

The Nuclear safety guide. TID-7016, Revision 2 also was a handy reference. It can be downloaded from -
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6231577
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6231577

There are many curves and graphs found in the LA-10860 report by the late Hugh Paxton and Norm Pruvost.
Rept. No. LA-10860-MS
Title Critical dimensions of systems containing [sup 235]U, [sup 239]Pu, and [sup 233]U : 1986 revision
Author Paxton, H. C. (Hugh C.)
https://permalink.lanl.gov/object/tr?wh ... A-10860-MS
https://ncsp.llnl.gov/sites/ncsp/files/ ... 860-MS.pdf

There are a large number of earlier technical reports used in the creation of LA-10860. The US DOE has a website where these many reports can be downloaded -
LA-10860-MS Reference Set
Critical Dimensions of Systems Containing 235U, 239Pu, and 233U
https://ncsp.llnl.gov/la-10860-ms-reference-set

An effort was undertaken to digitize curves used in LA-10860 and implement this digital data in a computer program -
Digitizing Curves from LA-10860 to be Used in CritView
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1886619
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1886619

The CritView program and manual can be downloaded from the US DOE Nuclear Criticality Safety Program website, under the Analytical Methods tab -
https://ncsp.llnl.gov/analytical-methods

Alas many of the unique and highly interesting training courses related to the NCSP are only available to select US government employees and contractors. There are a number of heritage videos that can be accessed; many have interviews with folks personally involved in nuclear criticality accidents -
https://ncsp.llnl.gov/training-education

I found another very useful document available on-line. I've long had a hard copy of this document. There are lots of graphs, data, and equations that can be useful to have at one's fingertips. This is the 1970 version of the Radiological Health Handbook -

RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH HANDBOOK
TECHNICAL REPORT · 01 January 1970
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4708654· OSTI ID:4708654
Public Health Service, Rockville, Md.
Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
NSA Number: NSA-25-049203
OSTI ID: 4708654
Report Number(s): PHS-PUBL.-2016
Resource Relation:
Other Information: UNCL. Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-71
Country of Publication: United States
Language: English

https://www.osti.gov/biblio/4708654
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/4708654
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67 ... dc1033646/

The Atomic Nucleus by Robley Evans was published in 1955. It is regarded as a classic text book. It is available at archive.org (full link below). One can choose to download this text as a pdf or several other formats.

https://archive.org/details/atomicnucle ... 9/mode/2up

As an undergraduate in nuclear engineering we used LaMarsh's Intro to Nuclear Engineering. A more recent version (than I used) of this text is available at -

https://archive.org/details/introductio ... rd-edition

Nuclear Reactor Analysis by Duderstadt was typically used at the graduate level of study. This text is available at -
http://milproj.dc.umich.edu/pdfs/books/ ... alysis.pdf

Solutions to the exercises in Duderstadt's text are available from - [Note: I haven't spent much time looking at these solutions. Since Duderstadt (or some of his students worked these problems, I expect they are correct].
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... r_Analysis

This is a handy document from the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center in the US

It is too big to attached but can be downloaded freely (for the moment) here:

https://nnss.gov/wp-content/uploads/202 ... 08_UUR.pdf

Lars

Recently (early March 2025) there has been some discussion about neutron sources and neutron activation. There are documents and resources that may be of interest (the first of which is available as a downloadable pdf document; the other two are useful, but must be ordered as a hard copy document) -

Compendium of Neutron Spectra and Detector Responses for Radiation Protection Purposes: Supplement to TRS 318; Technical Reports Series No. 403; English STI/DOC/010/403 ¦ 92-0-102201-8; 337 pages ¦ 82 figures ¦ € 74.00 ¦ Date published: 2002: This supplement is an update of Technical Report Series No. 318, Compendium of Neutron Spectra and Detector Responses for Radiation Protection Purposes (1990), that takes into account the major changes in the recommended energy dependence of risk related quantities, the increased importance of high neutron energies, the increased use of boron neutron capture therapy, promising new developments in detector design, new measured workplace spectra and improved calibration facilities. It includes the fluence to dose equivalent conversion coefficients for the recently recommended radiation protection quantities and a large number of fluence response functions for recently developed or improved detectors, as well as over 200 new spectra. Contents: Chapter 1. Introduction; Chapter 2. Dosimetric quantities; Chapter 3. Multisphere, survey instrument and dosimeter responses; Chapter 4. Calibration and reference spectra; Chapter 5. Operational spectra; Chapter 6. Use of data from the previous compendium; Appendix: Examples of compendium allocations; References.
https://www.iaea.org/publications/6123/ ... n-purposes

Compendium of Neutron Spectra and Detector Responses for Radiation Protection Purposes: Technical Reports Series No. 318, English STI/DOC/010/318 ¦ 92-0-125290-0, 274 pages ¦ 61 figures ¦ € 52.50 ¦ Date published: 1990
https://www.iaea.org/publications/1422/ ... n-purposes

Compendium of Neutron Spectra in Criticality Accident Dosimetry: Technical Reports Series No. 180: English STI/DOC/010/180 ¦ 92-0-125178-5; ¦ € 27.00 ¦ Date published: 1978
https://www.iaea.org/publications/1281/ ... -dosimetry

There are a great many other documents, studies, and reports available from the IAEA website; many of these can be freely downloaded -
https://www.iaea.org/

The Wise Uranium Project has a number of resources available, including some on-line calculators -
https://wise-uranium.org/

Following is a link to the neutron activation calculator. When I was teaching lab courses at the Ohio State Nuclear Reactor Lab we found this calculator quite handy and pretty accurate for estimating isotope activities produced from a thermal neutron flux.
https://wise-uranium.org/rnac.html

Here is a working link (as of 11 March 2025) to the 3rd Ed of Knoll's text on "Radiation Detection and Measurement"; there are several options for the download document format -
https://archive.org/details/RadiationDe ... l3rdEd1999

The first link is basically a 2024 revision of the classic PANDA manual. Nondestructive Assay of Nuclear Materials for Safeguards and Security: This open access book describes the nondestructive assay techniques that are used for the measurement of nuclear material (primarily uranium and plutonium) for nuclear material accountancy purposes. It is a substantial revision to the so-called PANDA manual that has been a standard reference since its publication in 1991. The book covers the origin and interactions of gamma rays and neutrons as they affect nuclear measurements and also describes the theory and practice of calorimetry. The book gives a description of many instruments based on these techniques that are applied in the field.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/ ... 31-58277-6

Many useful documents available here: LANL Technical References - Manuals, documents and links reference to support the Safeguard and Security Technology Training Program.
https://www.lanl.gov/engage/organizatio ... references

After reading some discussions elsewhere on this forum, I decided to order a RadiaCode 103 device (a 15% discount is presently offered with free shipping.) On the RadiaCode webpage were links to interesting resources, some of which led to other resources. Several of these likely have been mentioned in previous posts, but as of today (27 Nov 2025) I was able to download the documents linked below. Some links are for video tutorials.

https://radiacode.com/docs/en/quick-guide-manual

https://sandialabs.github.io/InterSpec/tutorials/ I had not seen this compilation of useful documents heretofore on the interspec github page.

https://sandialabs.github.io/InterSpec/ ... index.html

https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1763003
FRMAC Gamma Spectroscopist Knowledge Guide. Revision 0. This knowledge guide was developed as a training and reference manual for Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) gamma spectroscopists. The knowledge guide is geared towards applied High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma spectroscopy with an emphasis on examples. As such, the knowledge guide generally provides a limited but sufficient discussion of physics concepts.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files ... _ready.pdf
High Resolution Gamma-Ray Spectrometry Analyses For Normal Operations and Radiological Incident Response - This document is one of several initiatives by EPA’s Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA) designed to provide guidance to radioanalytical laboratories that will support EPA’s response and recovery actions following a radiological or nuclear incident. This guide examines the analysis of samples by gamma-ray spectrometry during normal operations and following a radiological incident.

https://www.lanl.gov/engage/training/sa ... references These are links to various chapters of the PANDA manual