Optimizing measurement sensitivity to facilitate monitoring environmental levels of Rn-daughter concentrations
In the measurement of environmental levels of radioactivity, the primary problem is the accumulation of a statistically meaningful number of counts within a reasonable period of time. In the case of measurements of airborne /sup 222/Rn-daughter concentrations, the problem is further complicated by the particularly short half-life, 3.05 minutes, of RaA (Po/sup 218/). Since the Rn-daughters, (RaA, RaB (Pb/sup 214/) and RaC (Bi/sup 214/)) are of interest, the equations interrelating these Rn-daughter concentrations were derived from the laws of radioactive-series decay. These equations, although straightforward, are cumbersome to solve. To facilitate the efficient use of these equations, a computer program has been written which permits the calculation of Rn-daughter concentrations or expected counts for a given set of measurement parameters (flow rate and detector efficiencies). A subroutine then calculates the optimum pumping and counting times required to provide the number of counts necessary for acceptable statistics at environmental levels of /sup 222/Rn-daughter concentrations. This subroutine contains a set of parameters, flow rate and efficiencies, that are fixed using realistic restrictions. The use of these optimized pumping and counting times results in maximum measurement sensitivity under realistic constraints.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., Ill. (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 5161082
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-771023-14
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- Radiometric Techniques-- (-1989)
500300* -- Environment
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR
AIR POLLUTION MONITORS
AIR SAMPLERS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
DAUGHTER PRODUCTS
DECAY
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
ISOTOPES
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
MONITORING
NONMETALS
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOACTIVITY
RADON
RARE GASES
SAMPLERS
TIME DEPENDENCE