title: Characterization of strong (241)Am sources.
abstract: Gamma ray spectra of strong (241)Am sources may reveal information about the source composition as there may be other radioactive nuclides such as progeny and radioactive impurities present. In this work the possibility to use gamma spectrometry to identify inherent signatures in (241)Am sources in order to differentiate sources from each other, is investigated. The studied signatures are age, i.e. time passed since last chemical separation, and presence of impurities. The spectra of some sources show a number of Doppler broadened peaks in the spectrum which indicate the presence of nuclear reactions on light elements within the sources. The results show that the investigated sources can be differentiated between by age and/or presence of impurities. These spectral features would be useful information in a national nuclear forensics library (NNFL) in cases when the visual information on the source, e.g. the source number, is unavailable.
authors.affiliation: Swedish Defence Research Agency, FOI, Division of CBRN Defence and Security, 901 82 Umeå, Sweden; Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry, Göteborg, Sweden. Electronic address: anna.vesterlund@foi.se.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vesterlund
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, Nuclear Engineering, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chernikova
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, Nuclear Engineering, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Petty
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cartemo
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, Nuclear Engineering, Göteborg, Sweden; Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kåre
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Axell
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Applied Physics, Nuclear Engineering, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nordlund
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gunnar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Skarnemark
authors.affiliation: Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ekberg
authors.affiliation: Swedish Defence Research Agency, FOI, Division of CBRN Defence and Security, 901 82 Umeå, Sweden; Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry, Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ramebäck
keywords: (241)Am; Age; Gamma spectrometry; Impurities; Nuclear forensics; Signatures