A Neural Network Approach to Multi-radionuclide TDCR Beta Spectroscopy
This work addresses the need for automated, standard-free radionuclide quantification in safety-compliant scenarios, particularly where reference materials are unavailable, though it is incremental as it applies deep learning to an existing method.
The paper tackles the problem of automating multi-radionuclide analysis in TDCR beta spectroscopy without relying on mixture-specific standards, achieving high accuracy with a mean absolute error of 0.009 for activity proportions and 0.002 for detection efficiencies.
Liquid scintillation triple-to-doubly coincident ratio (TDCR) spectroscopy is widely adopted as a standard method for radionuclide quantification because of its inherent advantages such as high precision, self-calibrating capability, and independence from radioactive reference sources. However, multiradionuclide analysis via TDCR faces the challenges of limited automation and reliance on mixture-specific standards, which may not be easily available. Here, we present an Artificial Intelligence (AI) framework that combines numerical spectral simulation and deep learning for standard-free automated analysis. $β$ spectra for model training were generated using Geant4 simulations coupled with statistically modeled detector response sampling. A tailored neural network architecture, trained on this dataset covering various nuclei mix ratio and quenching scenarios, enables autonomous resolution of individual radionuclide activities and detecting efficiency through end-to-end learning paradigms. The model delivers consistent high accuracy across tasks: activity proportions (mean absolute error = 0.009), detection efficiencies (mean absolute error = 0.002), and spectral reconstruction (Structural Similarity Index = 0.9998), validating its physical plausibility for quenched $β$ spectroscopy. This AI-driven methodology exhibits significant potential for automated safety-compliant multiradionuclide analysis with robust generalization, real-time processing capabilities, and engineering feasibility, particularly in scenarios where reference materials are unavailable or rapid field analysis is required.