90Sr concentration in cow teeth from South Ural Region, Russia, using Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

The Imaging Plate (IP) technique which uses the Monte Carlo code, MCNP, to convert IP response to 90Sr concentration with varied thickness of the standard source has been proposed in this study. In order to verify the validity of simulation calculation in the proposed method, the radial distribution of IP signal has been compared between calculation and experiment. The result is, they are in good agreement. The proposed method has been applied to a cow tooth from the territory contaminated by radioactivity after the accident in the Mayak facility in the South Ural, Russia. Two samples have been prepared from the tooth, i.e., a thin sample of 1.2 ± 0.2 mm in thickness and a thick sample which is a half of the tooth. The IP response has been evaluated for the thick sample using experimentally made standard sources, and multiplied by a modification factor to decide that for the thin sample. The modification factor has been determined with MCNP to be 0.83 ± 0.08 for a thickness of 1.2 ± 0.2 mm. Using these values, 90Sr concentration has been estimated to be 0.11 Bq/g for the thin sample and 0.12 Bq/g for the thick sample, hence they are in good agreement.