In-situ characterisation of a buried 137Cs source in the frame of nuclear forensics

Abstract

An approach is demonstrated, through simulations using MCNP, to characterise buried radioactive sources, in terms of their depth, radioactivity and location of their edges in the case of a volumetric one. The approach involves scanning of the sources with a collimated HPGe detector, positioned vertically and at an angle. The sought parameters to characterise the sources considered, were accurately reproduced. The approach was verified experimentally for 137 Cs cuboid and point buried sources. The parameters of interest were determined to within 22 % of the actual values.