Minimum detectable activity concentration of radio-cesium by a LaBr3(Ce) detector for in situ measurements on the ground-surface and in boreholes

A 3.81 x 3.81 cm LaBr3(Ce) detector based portable measurement setup has been developed for in situ gamma spectrometric survey of a contaminated site. This system is suitable for above-and below ground surface gamma spectrometric measurements of 137Cs. However, the minimum detectable activity concentration (MDAC), an important parameter of a measurement system, should be estimated for planning purposes of the gamma spectrometric survey. In this study, the MDAC of 137Cs for the measurement setup was investigated. The efficiency of the measurement setups was calculated from Monte Carlo simulations using MCNP code. The numerical model of the different studied set-ups, used in MCNP, performed well for the known cases. The results show that the MDAC varies with the position of the detector with respect to ground surface. A 5-20 min acquisition time, depending on the detector position, can be sufficient to get a MDAC of about 10% of the exemption limit of 137Cs (100 Bq/kg).