DOSE RATE MEASUREMENTS WITH CORRELATED U, Th AND K UNCERTAINTIES USING FULL NaI:Tl GAMMA SPECTRUM ANALYSIS

This study introduces a new method for measuring uranium, thorium decay chains, and ⁴⁰K in geological materials using NaI:Tl gamma spectrometry. The novel approach involves fitting data to model reference spectra via custom software, processing full mixed spectra to estimate pure component spectra quantifying radionuclides concentrations and evaluating their correlations. These correlations are crucial in calculating environmental dose rates for trapped charge dating. The methodology was validated using a Canberra InSpector 1000 spectrometer, with results cross-checked against high-resolution gamma spectrometry. With the use of the μRate web application, dose rates uncertainties were lowered by including correlated inputs, which results in improved precision in trapped charge dating.