A New Approach for NaI(Tl) Detector Efficiency Calibration Using 41Ar Radionuclide for Air Exhaust Systems

Argon-41 is an essential gaseous radionuclide that must be monitored in gaseous effluents from nuclear facilities. Therefore, a precise evaluation of Ar-41 activity is highly desired. Gamma spectroscopy with a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector coupled with a multichannel analyzer (MCA) is one of the widely used techniques for the identification and activity measurements of radioisotopes. However, the efficiency calibration of these kinds of monitoring systems highly depends on the source-detector geometry, and a large amount of uncertainty may complicate the calibration. This paper presents the evaluation of the full peak efficiency of a 2 x 2-in. NaI(Tl) scintillation detector coupled with a stable MCA for a Ar-41 source with 1293.5 keV energy in two different source-detector geometries, duct and Marinelli beaker, using the FLUKA code. A new experimental technique is considered to produce Ar-41 in a controlled geometry, like a Marinelli beaker, through neutron irradiation of natural argon inside a cyclotron bunker. The simulation data were compared with the experimental results for Marinelli beaker geometry, and the ratio was evaluated as 0.99 +/- 0.07. The ratio was considered a scaling factor for the final efficiency calibration of duct geometry.