Development and calibration of automatic real-time environmental radioactivity monitors using gamma-ray spectrometry

This doctoral thesis presents a collection of six scientific papers, which have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, in the field of real-time environmental radioactivity detection. After the contributions of this thesis, the automatic real-time environmental radiation surveillance n...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Casanovas Alegre, Ramon
Format: doctoral thesis
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2014
Country:España
Institution:CBUC, CESCA
Repository:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red
OAI Identifier:oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/145442
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10803/145442
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:gamma-ray spectrometry
environmental radioactivity detection
scintillation detectors
Monte Carlo simulation
Calibration
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Description
Summary:This doctoral thesis presents a collection of six scientific papers, which have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, in the field of real-time environmental radioactivity detection. After the contributions of this thesis, the automatic real-time environmental radiation surveillance network of Catalonia provides new and better radiological information. This was achieved thanks to the development and calibration of three types of radioactivity monitors using gamma-ray spectrometry, either with NaI(Tl) or LaBr3(Ce) detectors, which permit the real-time identification and quantification of radioactive isotope content in water and in air. In the thesis, details on general calibration methodologies can be found. The mentioned developments as well as their specific calibrations are also discussed. For each monitor, an evaluation of their measurement capabilities is also performed.