Efficiency Calibration Studies for Gamma Spectrometric Systems: the Influence of Different Parameters

The radioactive waste containers, containing different radioactive materials, have to be characterized before their final disposal. Destructive methods, although being the most precise, are also the most expensive and not the easiest ones from the radioprotection point of view. In this situation, high resolution gamma spectrometry proved to be a reliable method for the non destructive assay method. However, the non-homogenous composition of the radioactive waste inside the drum makes the quantitative characterization of the radioactive waste drum a difficult task. The efficiency calibration procedure is difficult and dependent on different parameters such as: experimental set-up, the sources distribution inside the drum, and also on the nuclear data used for the calculations. The experimental studies complemented with the performed Monte Carlo calculations are presented in this paper.