Comparison of Scintillation Detection Efficiencies of Depleted Uranium (DU) in Wounds

Three tissue-equivalent cylindrical wound phantoms with varying activities of DU metal imbedded at varying depths were used to compare the efficiencies of a bismuth germinate (BGO) detector, a sodium iodide (NaI), and two identical wound probes with smaller sodium iodide crystals. Our results show that the BGO detector had the highest efficiency (1.0·10-3) and the lowest minimum detectable activity (MDA = 5.8 kBq) for the shallow depth DU phantom, relative to the other detectors. The BGO detector also had the highest peak efficiencies (1.7·10-3 and 5.8·10-4) and the lowest MDAs (3.5 and 10.0 kBq) for the medium and deep phantoms, respectively. Other detectors' performance data are presented.