Abstract
To determine the environmental gamma background levels which affects rare events experiments, we measured in situ gamma spectrum at four locations in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. The integral background count rates (40–2,700 keV) varied from 3.76 to 74.1 cps. The average count rate of the measurements inside the CJPL was 73.4 cps. The spectrometer was calibrated with a 152Eu point source and Monte Carlo simulation to obtain the activity conversion factors for the rock and the air, respectively. The rocks that surrounded the CJPL was characterized by very low activity concentrations of 238U (3.69–4.21 Bq kg−1), 232Th (0.52–0.64 Bq kg−1) and 40K (4.28 Bq kg−1).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yue Q, Wong HT (2013) Dark matter search with sub-keV germanium detectors at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. Mod. Phys Lett A 28(02):1340007
Kang K-J, Cheng J-P, Chen Y-H et al (2010) Status and prospects of a deep underground laboratory in China; In: Proceedings of the Journal of Physics: Conference Series, F. IOP Publishing
Collaboration CDEX, Kang K-J, Cheng J-P et al (2013) Introduction to the CDEX experiment. Front Phys 8(4):412–437
Collaboration CDEX, Kang K-J, Yue Q et al (2013) CDEX-1 1 kg point-contact germanium detector for low mass dark matter searches. Chin Phys C 37(12):126002
Collaboration CDEX, Zhao W, Yue Q et al (2013) First results on low-mass WIMPs from the CDEX-1 experiment at the China Jinping underground laboratory. Phys Rev D 88(5):052004
Hu J, Gong H, Lin Q et al (2013) Development of the liquid level meters for the PandaX dark matter detector. arXiv preprint arXiv:13063064
Wu Y, Hao X, Yue Q et al (2013) Measurement of cosmic ray flux in China JinPing Underground Laboratory. Chin Phys C 37(8):45–49
Malczewski D, Kisiel J, Dorda J (2013) Gamma background measurements in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory. J. Radioanal Nucl Chem 295(1):749–754
Malczewski D, Kisiel J, Dorda J (2011) Gamma background measurements in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 292(2):751–756
Malczewski D, Kisiel J, Dorda J (2013) Gamma background measurements in the Boulby Underground Laboratory. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 298(3):1483–1489
Beck H L, Decampo J, Gogolak C (1972) In situ Ge (Li) and NaI (Tl) gamma-ray spectrometry: Health and Safety Lab., (AEC), New York
Jia M, Cheng J, Feng T et al (2013) The principle and application of in situ gamma spectrometer measurement. Beijing: China Atomic Energy Press
Agostinelli S, Allison J, Amako K et al (2003) Geant4—a simulation toolkit. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A 506(3):250–303
Acknowledgments
The help from Prof. Feng Tiancheng and Dr. Wu Rui is greatly acknowledged. This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11175099, No. 10935005, No. 10945002, No. 11275107) and National Basic Research program of China (973 Program) (2010CB833006).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zeng, Z., Su, J., Ma, H. et al. Environmental gamma background measurements in China Jinping Underground Laboratory. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 301, 443–450 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3114-1
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3114-1