Estimation of soil radioactivity-depth profiles using Bayesian inversion of borehole gamma spectrometry data

• Published in: Journal of environmental radioactivity Vol. 257; p. 107077
• Main Authors: Hasan, Md Moudud, Rogiers, Bart, Laloy, Eric, Camps, Johan, Rutten, Jos, Huysmans, Marijke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2023
• Subjects: Bayes Theorem; Gaussian process; In situ; MCMC; MCNP; Radiation Monitoring - methods; Radioactivity; Sensitivity; Soil; Soil Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis; Spectrometry, Gamma - methods; MCMC; Sensitivity; Gaussian process; MCNP; In situ
• ISSN: 0265-931X; 1879-1700
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2022.107077

Inversion of in situ borehole gamma spectrometry data is a faster and relatively less laborious method for calculating the vertical distribution of radioactivity in soil than conventional soil sampling method. However, the efficiency calculation of a detector for such measurements is a challenging task due to spatial and temporal variation of the soil properties and other measurement parameters. In this study, the sensitivity of different soil characteristics and measurement parameters on simulated efficiencies for a 662 keV photon peak were investigated. In addition, a Bayesian data inversion with a Gaussian process model was used to calculate the activity concentration of 137Cs and its uncertainty considering the sources of uncertainty identified during the sensitivity analysis, including soil density, borehole radius, and the uncertainty in detector position in the borehole. Several soil samples were also collected from the borehole and surrounding area, and 137Cs activity concentration was measured to compare with the inversion results. The calculated 137Cs activity concentrations agree well with those obtained from soil samples. Therefore, it can be concluded that the vertical radioactivity distribution can be calculated using the probabilistic method using in situ gamma spectrometric measurements. •Sensitivity of different parameters of borehole gamma spectrometry was investigated.•Bayesian inversion method was used to calculate the activity concentration depth profile.•Soil density, borehole radius and detector position in the borehole are the sensitive parameters.•Bayesian inversion method performed well in calculating the 137Cs activity concentrations.