PNNL

Abstract

High-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors housed in copper cryostats and shielding materials are used in measurements of the extraordinarily rare nuclear decay process, neutrinoless double-beta decay (0?ßß), and for dark matter searches. Cosmogenic production of 68Ge and 60Co in the germanium and copper represent an irreducible background to these experiments as the subsequent decays of these isotopes can mimic the signals of interest. These radioactive isotopes can be removed by chemical and/or isotopic separation, but begin to grow-in to the material after separation until the material is moved deep underground. This work is motivated by the need to have a reliable, experimentally benchmarked simulation tool for evaluating shielding materials used during transportation and near-surface manufacturing of experiment components. The resulting simulations tool has been used to enhance the effectiveness of an existing transport shield used to ship enriched germanium from the separations facility to the detector manufacturing facility.