Systematic influences of gamma-ray spectrometry data near the decision threshold for radioactivity measurements in the environment

Several methods for reporting outcomes of gamma-ray spectrometric measurements of environmental samples for dose calculations are presented and discussed. The measurement outcomes can be reported as primary measurement results, primary measurement results modified according to the quantification limit, best estimates obtained by the Bayesian posterior (ISO 11929), best estimates obtained by the probability density distribution resembling shifting, and the procedure recommended by the European Commission (EC). The annual dose is calculated from the arithmetic average using any of these five procedures. It was shown that the primary measurement results modified according to the quantification limit could lead to an underestimation of the annual dose. On the other hand the best estimates lead to an overestimation of the annual dose. The annual doses calculated from the measurement outcomes obtained according to the EC's recommended procedure, which does not cope with the uncertainties, fluctuate between an under- and overestimation, depending on the frequency of the measurement results that are larger than the limit of detection. In the extreme case, when no measurement results above the detection limit occur, the average over primary measurement results modified according to the quantification limit underestimates the average over primary measurement results for about 80%. The average over best estimates calculated according the procedure resembling shifting overestimates the average over primary measurement results for 35%, the average obtained by the Bayesian posterior for 85% and the treatment according to the EC recommendation for 89%. •Various calculation procedures applied to the primary measurement results.•Systematic influence near the zero activity on the long-term arithmetic average.•Dose calculation with its associated uncertainty in a unique way.