KR-20260067614-A - DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INSPECTING RADIOACTIVITY BASED ON INORGANIC SCINTILLATOR

KR20260067614AKR 20260067614 AKR20260067614 AKR 20260067614AKR-20260067614-A

Abstract

According to the present disclosure, an apparatus and method for testing radioactivity within a test object are provided. The apparatus may include: a radiation detector configured to measure the energy spectrum of radiation emitted from the test object; and a controller configured to identify a radionuclide based on the measured energy spectrum, determine a region of interest to apply to the measured energy spectrum according to the identified nuclide, determine a net count rate within the region of interest, and determine a radioactivity concentration based on the net count rate within the region of interest. According to the present disclosure, by eliminating the influence of high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides and background radiation during energy spectrum analysis, the accurate radioactivity concentration of only the nuclide of interest can be determined from the radiation generated in a test object containing other nuclides, thereby improving the reliability of radioactivity testing within the test object.

Inventors

서희
김수미
신지민

Assignees

전북대학교산학협력단
한국해양과학기술원

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20241106

Claims (14)

As a device for inspecting radioactivity within a test subject, A radiation detector configured to measure the energy spectrum of radiation generated from a subject to inspection; and A controller comprising a controller configured to identify a radionuclide based on the measured energy spectrum, determine a region of interest to apply to the measured energy spectrum according to the identified nuclide, determine a net count rate within the region of interest, and determine a radioactivity concentration based on the net count rate within the region of interest. Radiation inspection device.
In Article 1. The above radiation detector is an inorganic scintillation detector based on an inorganic scintillator, Radiation inspection device.
In Article 1, The above controller is configured to determine the net count rate within the region of interest by removing the background radiation count value within the region of interest from the total count value within the region of interest and removing the increase caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within the region of interest. Radiation inspection device.
In Paragraph 3, The above controller is, Determining a first coefficient value by removing the increase caused by the high-energy radiation-emitting nuclide in the left channels from the average of the coefficient values of a preset number of left channels in the region of interest, and Determining a second coefficient value by removing the increment caused by the high-energy radiation-emitting nuclide in the right channels from the average of the coefficient values of a preset number of right channels in the region of interest, and Configured to determine a background radiation coefficient value within the region of interest based on a linear function according to the first coefficient value and the second coefficient value. Radiation inspection device.
In Article 4, The above controller is configured to determine a corrected background radiation coefficient value within the region of interest by multiplying the background radiation coefficient value within the region of interest by a correction factor, and The above correction factor is determined based on the above test subject and the above identified radionuclide, Radiation inspection device.
In Article 4, The above controller is, Determine the increment caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within the region of interest by function fitting the coefficient values caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within the region of interest, and Determine the increment caused by the high-energy radiation-emitting nuclide in the left channels by function fitting the coefficient values caused by the high-energy radiation-emitting nuclide in the left channels, and Configured to determine the increment caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the right channels by function fitting the coefficient values caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the right channels, Radiation inspection device.
In Article 1, The above controller is configured to determine the radioactivity concentration based on the net count rate within the region of interest, the gamma ray emission rate of the identified nuclide, the detection efficiency of the object to be examined, and the weight of the object to be examined. Radiation inspection device.
As a method for testing radioactivity within a test subject, A step in which a radiation detector measures the energy spectrum of radiation emitted from the object to be inspected; A step of identifying radionuclides based on the measured energy spectrum above; A step of determining a region of interest to be applied to the measured energy spectrum according to the identified nuclide; A step of determining the net count rate within the region of interest; and A radioactivity inspection method comprising the step of determining radioactivity concentration based on the net count rate within the region of interest.
In Article 8. The above radiation detector is an inorganic scintillation detector based on an inorganic scintillator, Radiation testing method.
In Article 8, The step of determining the net count rate within the above region of interest is, A step of removing background radiation count values within the region of interest from the total count values of the region of interest; and A step comprising removing an increase caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within the region of interest, Radiation testing method.
In Article 10, The step of removing background radiation count values within the region of interest is: A step of determining a first coefficient value by removing the increase caused by the high-energy radiation-emitting nuclide in the left channels from the average of the coefficient values of a preset number of left channels in the region of interest; A step of determining a second coefficient value by removing the increment caused by the high-energy radiation-emitting nuclide in the right channels from the average of the coefficient values of a preset number of right channels in the region of interest; and A method comprising the step of determining a background radiation coefficient value within the region of interest based on a linear function according to the first coefficient value and the second coefficient value. Radiation testing method.
In Article 11, The step of determining the background radiation coefficient value includes the step of determining a corrected background radiation coefficient value within the region of interest by multiplying the background radiation coefficient value within the region of interest by a correction factor. The above correction factor is determined based on the above test subject and the above identified radionuclide, Radiation testing method.
In Article 11, The step of removing the increase caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within the region of interest is: The method includes the step of determining an increase caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within the region of interest by function fitting coefficient values caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within the region of interest. The step of determining the first coefficient value above is, The method includes the step of determining an increase caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the left channels by function fitting coefficient values caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the left channels, and The step of determining the second coefficient value above is, The step of determining an increase caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the right channels by function fitting coefficient values caused by high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the right channels, Radiation testing method.
In Article 8, The step of determining the above radioactivity concentration is, A step of determining the radioactivity concentration based on the net count rate within the region of interest, the gamma ray emission rate of the identified radionuclide, the detection efficiency of the test target, and the weight of the test target. Radiation testing method.

Description

Device and Method for Inspecting Radioactivity Based on Inorganic Scintilator The present disclosure relates to a radioactivity inspection technique, and more specifically, to an inorganic scintillator-based radioactivity inspection apparatus and method. With the emergence of marine radioactivity issues affecting humanity and marine life, various types of radiation detectors are being used to accurately determine whether the radioactivity present in seafood complies with established standards. Conventional technology utilizes high-resolution HPGe detectors capable of gamma-ray spectroscopic analysis; however, this technology faces the problem of requiring long measurement times due to the limitation of low detection efficiency resulting from the restricted size of the detector. In contrast, NaI(Tl) detectors, a type of inorganic scintillator, can be manufactured over large areas and possess high density, making them useful for radioactivity testing in food. However, NaI(Tl) detectors have the disadvantage of being unable to distinguish peaks of nuclides emitting radiation in similar energy ranges due to their low energy resolution. Consequently, it is difficult to accurately calculate the net count rate of the major emission energy peaks of each nuclide, leading to the problem of being unable to determine accurate radioactivity concentrations. Furthermore, NaI(Tl) detectors may misjudge the presence or radioactivity of low-energy emitting nuclides because high-energy radiation affects the low-energy region through scattering reactions. Moreover, NaI(Tl) detectors suffer from errors caused by the application of linear functions when removing background radiation for net count rate calculations. FIG. 1 is an exemplary drawing showing the structure of an inorganic scintillator-based radiation inspection device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is an exemplary block diagram showing a system configuration including an inorganic scintillator-based radiation inspection device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a method for testing radioactivity within a test subject according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4 is an exemplary graph illustrating the determination of background radiation count values within a region of interest according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 is an exemplary graph showing the increase in count values due to high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the left channels of the region of interest according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is an exemplary graph showing the increase in count values due to high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides in the right-hand channels of the region of interest according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 7 is an exemplary graph showing the increase in counting values due to high-energy radiation-emitting nuclides within a region of interest according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 8 is an exemplary graph showing the determination of the net count rate within the region of interest of a discriminant nuclide according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, it should be noted that in assigning reference numerals to the components of each drawing, the same components are given the same reference numeral whenever possible, even if they are shown in different drawings. Furthermore, in describing the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known components or functions could obscure the essence of the invention, such detailed description is omitted. Various aspects of the present invention are described below. It should be understood that the inventions presented herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and that any specific structure, function, or all thereof presented herein are merely illustrative. Based on the inventions presented herein, those skilled in the art will understand that any one aspect presented herein may be embodied independently of any other aspects, and that two or more such aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be embodied or a method may be practiced using any number of aspects described herein. Furthermore, such an apparatus may be embodied or such a method may be practiced using structures, functions, or structures and functions other than those described herein, in addition to or other than these aspects. FIG. 1 is an exemplary drawing showing the structure of an inorganic scintillator-based radiation inspection device (100) according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a sample (150) of a subject for inspection (e.g., seafood, etc.) may be introduced into a radioactivity inspection device (100) via a s