A benchmark for Monte Carlo simulation in gamma-ray spectrometry

Marie-Christine Lépy (1) , Cheick Thiam (1) , M. Anagnostakis (2) , R. Galea (3) , D. Gurau (4) , S. Hurtado (5) , K. Karfopoulos (6) , J. Liang (7) , H. Liu (7) , A. Luca (8) , I. Mitsios (9) , C. Potiriadis (6) , M.I. Savva (10) , T.T. Thanh (11) , V. Thomas (12) , R.W. Townson (3) , T. Vasilopoulou (10) , M. Zhang (7)

1 LNHB - Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel
2 NKUA - National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
3 NRC - National Research Council of Canada
4 NIPNE - Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering
5 Universidad de Sevilla
6 EEAE - Greek Atomic Energy Commission
7 National Institute of Metrology [Beijing]
8 Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering
9 NTUA - National Technical University of Athens [Athens]
10 INRASTES - Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Sciences and Technology, Energy and Safety
11 VNU-HCM - Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City
12 DRF (CEA) - Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA)

Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is widely used in gamma-ray spectrometry, however, its implementation is not always easy and can provide erroneous results. The present action provides a benchmark for several MC software for selected cases. The examples are based on simple geometries, two types of germanium detectors and four kinds of sources, to mimic eight typical measurement conditions. The action outputs (input files and efficiency calculation results, including practical recommendations for new users) are made available on a dedicated webpage.

Keywords: metrology; gamma spectrometry; spectrometry; gamma-rays; radioactivity; ionizing radiation; Monte Carlo; simulation; particle transport; Efficiency; EGS-Nrc; GEANT4; GESPECOR; MCNP; PENELOPE

Domains: Physics [physics]; Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Statistics [stat]; Methodology [stat.ME]; Statistics [stat]; Applications [stat.AP]

Marie-Christine Lépy, Cheick Thiam, M. Anagnostakis, R. Galea, D. Gurau, et al.. A benchmark for Monte Carlo simulation in gamma-ray spectrometry. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 2019, 154, pp.108850. ⟨10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.108850⟩. ⟨cea-02475801⟩