The characterization of scintillator performance at temperatures up to 400 degrees centigrade

The logging and characterization of geothermal wells requires improved scintillator systems that are capable of operation at temperatures significantly above those commonly encountered in the logging of most conventional oil and gas wells (e.g., temperatures nominally in the range of up to 150 °C). Unfortunately, most of the existing data on the performance of scintillators for radiation detection at elevated temperatures is fragmentary, uncorrelated, and generally limited to relatively low temperatures - in most cases to temperatures well below 200 °C. We have designed a system for characterizing scintillator performance at temperatures extending up to 400 °C under inert atmospheric conditions, and this system is applied here to the determination of scintillator performance at elevated temperatures for a wide range of scintillators including, among others: bismuth germanate, cadmium tungstate, cesium iodide, cesium iodide (Tl), cesium iodide (Na), sodium iodide, sodium iodide (Tl), lutetium oxy-orthosilicate (Ce), zinc tungstate, yttrium aluminum perovskite (Ce), yttrium aluminum garnet (Ce), lutetium aluminum perovskite (Ce), and barium fluoride, strontium iodide (Eu). Most of the scintillator samples exhibited severe degradation in light yield at elevated temperatures. Measurements were terminated at temperatures at which the measured light yield no longer appeared useful. The results of these high-temperature scintillator performance tests are described in detail here. Comparisons of the relative elevated-temperature properties of the various scintillator materials have resulted in the identification of promising scintillator candidates for high-temperature use in geothermal and fossil-fuel well environments.