New International Standard for Radiation Measurement – Changes in Use of Spectrometers Based on Germanium for Detecting Harmful Gamma-Rays

Spectrometers based on germanium have a wide application. They are most frequently used for measuring radioactive pollution in soil samples, detecting illegal trade of radioactive materials, and they are also very important in healthcare, because these devices help set precise doses of radiation in radiation therapy.

Due to such wide application in fields that are important in everyday life and protection from radiation, the methods of calibrating spectrometers are revised regularly, in order to secure optimal precision in measuring radioactive radiation.

The Institute for Standardization of Serbia has announced that, in April, a revised version of the IEC 61452:2021 standard, “Nuclear Instrumentation – Measuring of Activities or Doses of Radiation from Radionuclides” was published. It defines methods of calibration and use of germanium-based spectrometers and describes the activity of radionuclides.

These devices measure the light in the special part of the electromagnetic range (radiation), which can be detected as waves in samples and which can be radioactive radiation that is harmful to people’s health and the environment. Germanium-based spectrometers belong to the category of so-called semiconductor detectors. They are highly reliable in detecting gamma-rays for which a thicker protection is required, as they can cause serious damages to the skin, cancer and even genetic mutations.

The regulation on radiation detectors published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 4/2017 defines that the devices for detecting gamma-rays, spectrometers, must be built from germanium-lithium with the following components: detector with a protective casing, high-voltage power source, preamplifier and amplifier, multi-channel impulse analyzer.

The changes to the standardization of germanium-based spectrometers define new routines in using the devices and recording the results. In order to achieve the highest precision of data possible, the standard entails the carrying out of several tests and methods – a performative test for the purpose of determining the safety of the functions of the spectrometer, methods of measuring and correction of the pulse pile-up function (the loss of photons due to the high level of photon counting due to problems in the functioning of the spectrometer), the carrying out of coincidence summing tests and techniques of examining high-error results.

The new standardization of the calibration of the use of germanium-based spectrometers brings process automation in line with the development of new technologies, but also the possibility of preventing gamma-ray radiation that is harmful to people and the environment more efficiently through more precise results.

N. Ignjatovic

Institut za standardizaciju Srbije Beograd

Institute for Standardization of Serbia

gamma radiation

germanium based spectrometers

germanium lithium

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