Example of Monte Carlo uncertainty assessment in the field of radionuclide metrology. (22nd May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cassette, Philippe; Bochud, François; Keightley, John
• Is Part Of: Metrologia. Volume 52:Number 3(2015:Jun.)
• Page Start: S42
• Page End: S50
• Publication Date: 2015-05-22
• Subjects: Monte Carlo -- GUM -- uncertainties; Weights and measures -- Periodicals; Weights and Measures -- Periodicals; 530.805
• DOI: 10.1088/0026-1394/52/3/S42
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0026-1394

Abstract

Abstract: This chapter presents possible uses and examples of Monte Carlo methods for the evaluation of uncertainties in the field of radionuclide metrology. The method is already well documented in GUM supplement 1, but here we present a more restrictive approach, where the quantities of interest calculated by the Monte Carlo method are estimators of the expectation and standard deviation of the measurand, and the Monte Carlo method is used to propagate the uncertainties of the input parameters through the measurement model. This approach is illustrated by an example of the activity calibration of a 103 Pd source by liquid scintillation counting and the calculation of a linear regression on experimental data points. An electronic supplement presents some algorithms which may be used to generate random numbers with various statistical distributions, for the implementation of this Monte Carlo calculation method.