LOW-LEVEL GAMMA-RAY SPECTROMETRY

Low-level gamma-ray spectrometry generally equates to high-sensitivity gamma-ray spectrometry that can be attained by background reduction, selective signal identification, or some combination of both. Various methods for selectively identifying gamma-ray events and for reducing the background in gamma-ray spectrometers are given. The relative magnitude of each effect on overall sensitivity and the relative "cost" for implementing them are given so that a cost/benefit comparison can be made and a sufficiently sensitive spectrometer system can be designed for any application without going to excessive or unnecessary expense.