Comparison of neutron activation analysis and passive counting for environmental radioactivity measurements

Neutron activation analysis is not usually known used for environmental radioactivity measurements as compared to low-level passive gamma-ray counting. Texas local background samples were taken as part of a study to compare neutron activation versus passive counting. The benefits and drawbacks of each method are explored for soil samples which are in secular equilibrium, including gamma-ray self-attenuation, sample size and counting times.