Study of the atmospheric chemistry of radon progeny in laboratory and real indoor atmospheres. Progress report, July 1, 1992--March 31, 1993

Technical Report · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10142412· OSTI ID:10142412

Hopke, P K

This report describes studies on the chemical and physical behavior of the {sup 218}Po atom immediately following its formation by the alpha decay of radon. Because small changes in size for activity in the sub-10 nm size range result in large changes in the delivered dose per unit exposure, this behavior must be understood if the exposure to radon progeny and its dose to the cells in the respiratory tract are to be fully assessed. The specific tasks of the controlled laboratory studies are to determine the formation rates of {center_dot}OH radicals formed by the radiolysis of air following radon decay, to examine the formation of particles by the radiolytic oxidation of substances like SO{sub 2} ethylene, and H{sub 2}S to lower vapor pressure compounds and determine the role of gas phase additives such as H{sub 2}O and NH{sub 3} in determining the particle size, to measure the rate of ion-induced nucleation using a thermal diffusion cloud chamber, and to measure the neutralization rate of {sup 218}Po{sub x}{sup +} in O{sub 2} at low radon concentrations. Tasks of the exposure studies in occupied indoor spaces are to initiate measurements of the activity size distributions in actual homes with occupants present so that the variability of the indoor activity size distributions can be assessed with respect to indoor aerosol sources and general lifestyle variations of the occupants, to initiate a prospective study of the utility of measurement of deposited {sup 210}Pb embedded in glass surfaces as a measure of the long-term, integrated exposure of the population to radon, and to develop the methodology to determine the hygroscopicity of the indoor aerosol so that the changes in deposition efficiency of the radioactive indoor aerosol with hygroscopic growth in the respiratory tract can be assessed.

• Research Organization: Clarkson Univ., Potsdam, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-90ER61029
• OSTI ID: 10142412
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/61029--13; ON: DE93012236
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540230
560161
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
DEPOSITION
GLASS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
INHALATION
MAN
PARTICLE SIZE
PARTICULATES
POLONIUM 218
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
RADON
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS