The absolute standardization of 32P and 204Tl at LNMRI.

32P and 204Tl solutions were standardized within the frame of the international key comparisons organized by bureau international des poids et mesures, in 2002. The activity concentration of 32P was measured by counting solid sources in a 4pibeta proportional gas flow counter and by liquid scintillation counting. The self-absorption in solid sources for 4pibeta counting and the presence of 33P as an impurity were evaluated. The combined standard uncertainty for 32P was 0.59% in the 4pibeta counting and 0.38% in the liquid scintillation counting. Liquid scintillation counting was used to measure the activity concentration of 204Tl with combined standard uncertainty of 0.35%.

166mHo: a multi-gamma standard for the calibration of Ge spectrometers.

Efficiency calibration curves for germanium detectors are usually established by using a large number of standard gamma-ray sources of specific radionuclides, that decay with few gamma-rays, or radionuclides with complex decay schemes, such as 133Ba or 152Eu. But these multi-gamma radionuclides cannot be used alone, because the gamma-rays of high intensity are irregularly distributed across the energy spectrum. 166mHo is a more suitable single source for such calibrations, because this radionuclide decays by beta(-)emission to the excited states of 166Er with the subsequent emission of about 20 strong and well distributed gamma-rays ever the energy range 50-1000 keV. Moreover, with a relatively long half-life (1200 yr) and characteristic X-rays between 40 and 50 keV, this nuclide is a good standard for the calibration of germanium detectors. The X- and gamma-ray emission probabilities of their main lines need to be known with good accuracy in order to resolve the discrepancies found in the literature. A combination of 4pi beta-gamma coincidence and X- and gamma-ray spectrometric techniques have been used to determine 50 photon emission probabilities.