title: Heavy metals detection in sediments using PGNAA method.
abstract: A prompt gamma ray neutron activation analysis detection system was developed to detect the heavy metals in sediments by using an (241)Am-Be neutron source and BGO detector. The samples containing cadmium and mercury were used to test the performance of setup. The linear relationship between prompt gamma ray counts and the concentrations was studied. The results showed the counts of the prompt gamma rays from cadmium do not increase linearly with its concentrations, while the prompt gamma ray counts from Hg vary nearly linearly with the concentrations, due to the neutron self-shielding. Then a method was used to correct the effect and the non-linearly response was restored after the correction. And the minimum detectable concentration of Cd and Hg were 52.8 (at 8.484MeV) and 81.6 (at 5.967MeV) ppm, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China.
authors.forename: Hei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Da-Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Suzhou 215000, China. Electronic address: jiawenbao@163.com.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wen-Bao
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Suzhou 215000, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Can
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jia-Tong
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 211106, China.
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hong-Tao
mesh_terms: D002104:Cadmium / Q000032:analysis; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D005720:Gamma Rays; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D009501:Neutron Activation Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D002104:Cadmium; D008628:Mercury
keywords: Linear relationship; Minimum detectable concentration; Neutron self-shielding; Prompt gamma ray neutron activation analysis