Radometer-a portable field instrument for the rapid measurement of environmental radon and thoron

Author

Negro, Vincent C.

Author_Institution

Environ. Meas. Lab., USA DOE, New York, NY, USA

Volume

37

Issue

2

fYear

1990

fDate

4/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

854

Lastpage

858

Abstract

A portable battery-operated instrument, the radometer, which permits rapid measurements of environmental levels of radon/thoron is described. The radometer measures radon and thoron by electrostatic collection of charged progeny on a surface barrier detector. Accurate measurements are made in only a few minutes because this instrument uses a dual electric field configuration, thus eliminating filters which slow the response time. An onboard computer corrects for the effect of moisture and previous deposition to maintain accuracy and fast response when the instrument encounters high humidity and/or rapid changes in concentration. The instrument´s detection volume is 6 L and its efficiency is 25% or .041 cpm/Bq m^-3 (1.5 cpm/pCi L^-1). The instrument has been tested extensively, and its operation is very reliable

Keywords

alpha-particle detection and measurement; radiation monitoring; radioactivity measurement; radioactivity measuring apparatus; radioisotopes; radon; semiconductor counters; Rn; charged progeny; dual electric field configuration; electrostatic collection; environmental levels; onboard computer; radometer; surface barrier detector; Current measurement; Delay; Detectors; Electric variables measurement; Electrostatic measurements; Filters; Humidity; Instruments; Moisture; Time measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.106726

Filename

106726