Improved gamma-spectroscopy of marine samples via low background small anode germanium well detector with cosmic veto suppression

The small anode germanium (SAGe) Well detector from Canberra Industries with a cosmic veto supression system was tested on marine particles and water samples. The cosmic-veto suppression system reduced the shielded background by an average of 35 % across the energy spectrum. The enhanced energy resolution and efficiency improved the ability to separate the major U-238 decay chain energies 92, 238 and 241 keV γ rays as well as separate the Cs-134 peak at 604 keV from the 609 keV γ -ray line of Bi-214. The SAGe Well detector with cosmic-veto suppression system has shortened counting times and increased sample throughput.