Standardisation of 124SB and 152EU using software coincidence counting system.

Activities of the radionuclides (124)Sb and (152)Eu were determined by the efficiency extrapolation method applied to 4pi(PC)-gamma coincidence counting. The (124)Sb sources were prepared from a solution with the chemical form of 50 microg g(-1) SbCl(3) in 2 M HCl. To inhibit the volatility of antimony chlorides, the sources were slowly dried in a H(2)S atmosphere with relative humidity of 76% for about 48 h. This procedure increased the beta detection efficiency up to 0.98, which simplified the standardisation. In the (152)Eu standardisation, the optimal gamma-ray energy window setting to achieve a linear dependency and the correct slope of the extrapolation curve were derived by means of software coincidence counting system using offline evaluation of data with different coincidence parameter settings. The results obtained by the software coincidence counting system were compared with those obtained by the conventional coincidence method.

Standardization of 152Eu and 154Eu by 4pibeta-4pigamma coincidence method and 4pi(beta+gamma) integral counting.

The 4pibeta-4pigamma coincidence counting and 4pi(beta+gamma) integral counting techniques were applied for the standardization of 152Eu and 154Eu. In these techniques, the beta-detector is composed of two thin plastic scintillators sandwiching the source coupled with a slender photomultiplier tube. This beta-detector was inserted into a large well-type NaI(Tl) scintillation detector for gamma-ray detection, making a 4pibeta-4pigamma detector configuration. The results obtained by the above two techniques were in good agreement and consistent with the results of international comparisons.

Facile access to 154Eu, a new reference source for calibration in gamma ray spectrometry.

Europium-154 can be obtained as a by-product from the large-scale production of Samarium-153 and possesses attractive features (t1/2 8.592 yr; Egamma 0.12-1.6 MeV) for use as a reference source similar to 152Eu (t1/2 13.516 yr; Egamma 0.12-1.4 MeV), which is the gold standard for calibration in gamma ray spectrometry. Thermal neutron irradiation of 5mg of 98% enriched 153Sm2O3 target in the reactor led to approximately 200 GBq 153Sm and 1.26 MBq 154Eu. A typical batch control sample of 153SmCl3 solution and final radiopharmaceutical product formulation of 153Sm-phosphonate (153Sm-EDTMP) pooled together contained about 20% of total yield, requiring post decay disposal of 153Sm as radioactive waste. Such spent solutions pooled on quarterly basis led to availing 756 kBq of 154Eu. The radioactivity content and radionuclide purity (approximately 82%) of the recovered 154Eu sample were envisaged as adequate to prepare reference sources for calibration of gamma ray spectrometers. At present, one batch of 153Sm is handled per month at our institution, with the possibility for weekly processing in future. Access to approximately 3.5 MBq of 154Eu on quarterly basis is envisaged, apart from obviating the need for instituting steps to tackle disposal of the long-lived 154Eu in the spent solution. Up to 60-120 units of 20-100 kBq of 154Eu reference sources per year could thus be available by the proposed strategy.

Developing 152Eu into a standard for detector efficiency calibration.

A gamma-gamma coincidence experiment was performed to check the 152Eu 13-year decay scheme and the placement of the observed gamma-ray transitions. The multi-detector array for residual activity measurement of the Linear Accelerator Laboratory was used. The source activity was 1 MBq, and about 10(9) coincidence events were observed. About 30 gamma's were placed in the decay scheme and four 152Sm levels were added to the previously known set of levels fed in 152Eu 13-year decay.

Study of XK and gamma photon emission following decay of 154Eu.

A joint project has been established between VNIIM (D.I. Mendeleyev Institute for Metrology) and LNHB (Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel) to determine as accurately as possible the X- and gamma-ray emission probabilities of 154Eu. Point sources were prepared by VNIIM, and absolute measurements of activity per unit mass were undertaken by both laboratories using coincidence, anti-coincidence and 4pi-gamma counting methods. Other point sources and one aliquot were also prepared for precise gamma-ray spectrometry measurements. Absolute photon emission probabilities were determined with a maximum uncertainty of 0.5% for the most intense lines, supporting the development of this nuclide as a multigamma standard.