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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

A rapid, simple method for the determination of the radon content of water

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10168870· OSTI ID:10168870
The historical approach to the separation of radon from water is liberation of the radon from the sample by boiling under vacuum in the presence of a strong acid; flushing the liberated radon, with an inert gas, into an ionization chamber or an alpha proportional counters and measuring the collected activity. Such an analysis requires a manipulation time of approximately one hour, a waiting period of two to three hours before measurement to allow transitory equilibrium to be reached, and finally a measurement time, resulting in 4 to 6 hours for one analysis. In addition, specialized equipment including a vacuum train is required. If it is desired to count the alpha particles from radon and its daughters in a proportional counter, absorption trains to remove all oxygen, a poor counting gas, are required. The method presented herein requires only 20--25 minutes for a complete analysis and except for the beta counter utilizes standard laboratory equipment.
Research Organization:
Hanford Works, Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
10168870
Report Number(s):
HW--18321; ON: DE93017358
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English