Ongoing Long Duration Gamma Background

This area is for discussions involving any fusion related radiation metrology issues. Neutrons are the key signature of fusion, but other radiations are of interest to the amateur fusioneer as well.
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Liam David
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Real name: Liam David
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Ongoing Long Duration Gamma Background

Post by Liam David »

Intermediate results of a long-duration gamma background count. Will continue counting for as long as possible.

Custom 85mm x 60mm NaI(Tl) probe, set to 650V for high-energy counting
Canberra 814 monolithic preamp+amplifier, minimum gains
Norland Inotech 5300 MCA, 1024 channels with data output through 20 mA loop + Teensy 4 microcontroller connected to PC
InterSpec gamma spectroscopy software
Live time ~76000s

All the expected background isotopes are there.

background.jpg
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Richard Hull
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Re: Ongoing Long Duration Gamma Background

Post by Richard Hull »

Nice logarithmic, long live-time spectrum. Plenty of nice NORM around for all of us. What a RAD world we live in.

I am a little concerned as I have over 50 pounds of Bi209 here and it is naturally radioactive. That's not too bad, as it is an alpha emitter. However, it is the build up of the Thallium daughter product that frightens me and I lose sleep over it. I worry that when they smelt the Bismuth that they do not extract the thallium that has built up over the years. Selling me a bismutho-thallic alloy.

(tongue-in-cheek)

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Rex Allers
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Re: Ongoing Long Duration Gamma Background

Post by Rex Allers »

Thanks for sharing Liam.I had not heard of the
InterSpec gamma spectroscopy software,
so I did a little searching.

It looks great.
Developed at Sandia Labs and available for free. Packages built for Linux, Windows, and Mac. Also downloadable apps from the stores for iphone or android.

For anyone else interested, here are some links...

Main Project page
https://github.com/sandialabs/InterSpec

Download for current packages ver1.0.9
https://github.com/sandialabs/InterSpec ... tag/v1.0.9

A brief intro
https://github.com/sandialabs/InterSpec ... ysis_intro

Lots of guides/tutorials
https://sandialabs.github.io/InterSpec/tutorials/
Rex Allers
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Jim Kovalchick
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Re: Ongoing Long Duration Gamma Background

Post by Jim Kovalchick »

I have been using Interspec for a little while now, and its quickly becoming my favorite piece of free software. I have only touched a small part of its capabilities, but I especially like its nuclide search and calibration functions. Here is an Interspec plot of a quick NaI scan of a contaminated soil sample. My MCA is an Arduino that reads from a Canberra NIM 8706 ADC.
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soil_20220614T203822.png
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