Testing efficiency transfer codes for equivalence

Four general Monte Carlo codes (GEANT3, PENELOPE, MCNP and EGS4) and five dedicated packages for efficiency determination in gamma-ray spectrometry (ANGLE, DETEFF, GESPECOR, ETNA and EFFTRAN) were checked for equivalence by applying them to the calculation of efficiency transfer (ET) factors for a set of well-defined sample parameters, detector parameters and energies typically encountered in environmental radioactivity measurements. The differences between the results of the different codes never exceeded a few percent and were lower than 2% in the majority of cases.