Nuclear spectral analysis via artificial neural networks for waste handling

In this paper two applications of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in nuclear spectroscopy analysis are discussed. In the first application, an ANN assigns quality coefficients to alpha particle energy spectra. These spectra are used to detect plutonium contamination in the work environment. The quality coefficients represent the levels of spectral degradation caused by miscalibration and foreign matter affecting the instruments. A set of spectra was labeled with quality coefficients by an expert and used to train the ANN expert system. Our investigation shows that the expert knowledge of spectral quality can be transferred to an ANN system. The second application combines a portable gamma-ray spectrometer with an ANN to automatically identify radioactive isotopes in real-time. Two neural network paradigms are examined and compared: the linear perceptron and the optimal linear associative memory (OLAM). Both networks have a linear response and are useful in determining the composition of an unknown sample when the spectrum of the unknown is a linear superposition of known spectra. One feature of this technique is that it uses the whole spectrum in the identification process instead of only the individual photo-peaks. This approach has been successfully tested with data generated by Monte Carlo simulations and with field data from both sodium iodide and germanium detectors