Determination of Airborne Fission Product Radioactivity using Gamma-Ray Spectrometry

Journal Article · Sat Aug 11 04:00:00 EDT 1962 · Nature (London)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/195557a0· OSTI ID:4804859

GUSTAFSON, P. F.; BRAR, S. S.; MISHRA, U. C.

A method for the rapid determination of the radon and thoron daughter content of an air filter shortly after removal from the pump is described. It utilizes gamma -ray measurements in a portion of the energy spectrum in which the spectral shape does not change with time. Afterwards, the contribution to the net counting-rate over a wider energy region from radon and thoron daughter products is removed. In addition to determining the concentration of gross gamma activlty due to fission products in terms of mu mu c/m³ of air, the concentration of La¹⁴⁰ and Ba¹⁴⁰ was also measured. Beta and gamma mcasurements were made on the same portion of 50 daily air filters several days after collection. The gross BETA count-rates were expressed in mu mu c/ m³ of air using a Tl.²⁰⁴ source of known activity. The ratio of BETA / gamma activlty was found to be 1.9 plus or minus 0.15. By using the BETA / gamma ratio it was possible to compare the gross gamma results with measurements made at other sites where air-borne radioactivity is expressed in terms of gross BETA activity.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., Ill.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• NSA Number: NSA-16-029268
• OSTI ID: 4804859
• Journal Information: Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 4841 Vol. 195; ISSN 0028-0836
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
AEROSOLS
AIR
BARIUM 140
BETA PARTICLES
CONFIGURATION
COUNTERS
FILTERS
FISSION PRODUCTS
GAMMA RADIATION
LANTHANUM 140
MEASURED VALUES
PUMPS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIOACTIVITY
RADON
RADON 220
SAMPLING
SPECTRA
SPECTROMETERS
SPECTROSCOPY
THALLIUM 204