Smith, MichaelBignell, Lindsay JordanAlexiev, DimitriMo, LHarrison, J2015-12-072015-12-070168-9002http://hdl.handle.net/1885/24424Three types of lead shielding assemblies were investigated to establish which provides the lowest background as preliminary work for determining the efficiency of a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. The background continuum and peaks were examined using gamma spectroscopy with a coaxial and a planar HPGe detector. The210Pb concentration in each lead sample taken from the assemblies was quantitatively determined. A French lead sample was found to have the lowest background in this relative comparison with a210Pb concentration of 29.1±1.3 Bq kg-1. CrownKeywords: Concentration (process); Continuum mechanics; Gamma ray spectrometers; Particle detectors; Alpha spectrometry; High Purity Germanium (HPGe); Lead shield; Lead compounds 210Pb; Alpha spectrometry; Gamma spectrometry; Lead shield200810.1016/j.nima.2008.02.0502015-12-07