Preliminary Work Toward a Transuranic Activity Estimation Method for Rapid Discrimination of Anthropogenic from Transuranic Activity in Alpha Air Samples

Cope, S. Joseph; Hayes, Robert B.

doi:10.1097/HP.0000000000000735

Title: Preliminary Work Toward a Transuranic Activity Estimation Method for Rapid Discrimination of Anthropogenic from Transuranic Activity in Alpha Air Samples

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Abstract

Radon (²²²Rn) and thoron (²²⁰Rn) progeny (primarily bismuth and polonium) are known interferents when rapid evaluation of transuranic content on air filters is of interest. These complexities stem from the overlapping energies of the progeny alpha particles onto the transuranic region of interest (3–5.5 MeV) where naturally-occurring alpha emitters can overwhelm the spectra. Due to the immediacy of the alpha counting methods employed, coupled with the half-life of thoron progeny dominated by ²¹²Pb (t_1/2=10.6 h), a conservative transuranic activity estimate with rigorous uncertainty is being sought. A successful transuranic activity estimation method will incorporate any thoron progeny present on the filter providing 95% confidence decision levels in which a filter may be evaluated for emergency response applications. Twenty-three pairs of samples of various duration having no transuranic content were taken over a 2-mo period. The resulting filters were counted in a time series before non-linear least squares decay curve fitting was applied to the decay profile. For the samples considered, a transuranic activity estima-tor decision level was determined at 0.2 Bq for the given geographic location and months analyzed. In conclusion, validation of this method for other seasonal and geographic regions could provide enhanced emergency response capability when the presencemore » of transuranic activity is suspected.« less

Authors:

Cope, S. Joseph ^[1]; Hayes, Robert B. ^[1]

North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering

Publication Date:: Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018

Research Org.:: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22); US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Rockville, MD (United States)

OSTI Identifier:: 1438369

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0002576; NRC-HQ‐84‐14‐G‐0059

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Health Physics

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 114; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 0017-9078

Publisher:: Health Physics Society

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; air sampling; emergencies; radiological; monitoring; air; radon progeny

Citation Formats


                    Cope, S. Joseph, and Hayes, Robert B. Preliminary Work Toward a Transuranic Activity Estimation Method for Rapid Discrimination of Anthropogenic from Transuranic Activity in Alpha Air Samples.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
Web.  doi:10.1097/HP.0000000000000735.

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                    Cope, S. Joseph, & Hayes, Robert B. Preliminary Work Toward a Transuranic Activity Estimation Method for Rapid Discrimination of Anthropogenic from Transuranic Activity in Alpha Air Samples.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000000735

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                    Cope, S. Joseph, and Hayes, Robert B. Thu .  
"Preliminary Work Toward a Transuranic Activity Estimation Method for Rapid Discrimination of Anthropogenic from Transuranic Activity in Alpha Air Samples".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1097/HP.0000000000000735.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1438369.

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@article{osti_1438369,

  title        = {Preliminary Work Toward a Transuranic Activity Estimation Method for Rapid Discrimination of Anthropogenic from Transuranic Activity in Alpha Air Samples},

  author       = {Cope, S. Joseph and Hayes, Robert B.},

  abstractNote = {Radon (222Rn) and thoron (220Rn) progeny (primarily bismuth and polonium) are known interferents when rapid evaluation of transuranic content on air filters is of interest. These complexities stem from the overlapping energies of the progeny alpha particles onto the transuranic region of interest (3–5.5 MeV) where naturally-occurring alpha emitters can overwhelm the spectra. Due to the immediacy of the alpha counting methods employed, coupled with the half-life of thoron progeny dominated by 212Pb (t1/2=10.6 h), a conservative transuranic activity estimate with rigorous uncertainty is being sought. A successful transuranic activity estimation method will incorporate any thoron progeny present on the filter providing 95% confidence decision levels in which a filter may be evaluated for emergency response applications. Twenty-three pairs of samples of various duration having no transuranic content were taken over a 2-mo period. The resulting filters were counted in a time series before non-linear least squares decay curve fitting was applied to the decay profile. For the samples considered, a transuranic activity estima-tor decision level was determined at 0.2 Bq for the given geographic location and months analyzed. In conclusion, validation of this method for other seasonal and geographic regions could provide enhanced emergency response capability when the presence of transuranic activity is suspected.},

  doi          = {10.1097/HP.0000000000000735},

  journal      = {Health Physics},

  number       = 3,

  volume       = 114,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018},

  month        = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018}

}

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