Abstract

This study explores the effect of Th-229 tracer tail interference on the determination of the sensitivity of Th-230 alpha spectrometry of samples with environmental levels of radioactivity. Tracer peak tail interference was calculated with Suma-Alpha, whilst Visual Basic for Applications (VBA in Excel c) software was used to study the variation in sensitivity in terms of the amount of tracer added. Unnecessary increases in the amount of tracer or extended sample measuring times were observed to have adverse effects on method sensitivity (Detection Limit L-d).