The Radiation Field in Air Due to Distributed Gamma-Ray Sources in the Ground

Abstract

A much more complete and detailed picture of the external environmental gamma-ray radiation field has been obtained through gamma-ray transport calculations of exposure rates, differential energy spectra, integral exposure rate spectra, and angular exposure rate distributions due to sources distributed on or in the soil half space. The radiation field is examined not only for the natural emitters K 40, U 238, and Th 232, but also for gamma rays whose energies are typical of weapons test fallout. The energy spectra and exposure rate angular distributions are shown to vary with detector height and source distribution with resulting important implications in regard to detector calibration and prediction of ground level exposure rates from aerial survey data. Exposure rate results as a function of detector height in air above the soil air interface are tabulated for various source energies and source distributions. Although the calculated results are for specific soil and air densities, soil moisture and composition, the data can easily be adapted to other soil and air conditions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1968
Accession Number
ADA382486

Entities

People

  • G. De Planque
  • Hans Peter Beck

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Altitude
  • Boltzmann Equation
  • Coefficients
  • Detectors
  • Differential Equations
  • Electromagnetic Scattering
  • Equations
  • Gamma Rays
  • Ground Level
  • Measurement
  • Moisture Content
  • New York
  • Nuclear Reactors
  • Radiation
  • Radioactive Decay
  • Scattering

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Geotechnical Engineering.
  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.
  • Statistical inference.

Technology Areas

  • Space