Abstract:
A method for monitoring the unknown contents in a volume comprises the steps of sending gamma radiation and/or fast neutrons emerging from said volume through a measuring volume (12) of at least one radiation detector (10), said measuring volume (12) containing a noble gas or a mixture of noble gases; counting the photons generated within said measuring volume (12) by an interaction (18) of the gamma radiation and/or fast neutrons with the noble gas or noble gases of the measuring volume (12) by means of photon counters (15, 16); deriving from the output of said photon counters (15, 16) a spectrum of the radiation passing through the measuring volume, wherein neutrons and gamma rays are discriminated by their different pulse shapes; and processing said derived spectrum to gain information about the unknown contents in said volume.