A new method for evaluating the effectiveness of plastic packaging against radon penetration
Yue Meng1, Jerry Busenitz1, Andreas Piepke1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA.
Abstract:
We describe a new method to evaluate radon barriers which is unique in that it gauges not only the intrinsic resistance to radon penetration of a plastic film but also the integrity of bags fabricated from the film and sealed following some protocol, and it employs gamma spectroscopy rather than alpha spectroscopy. We report the results of sealed bags fabricated from polypropylene, Nylon, Mylar, metallized Mylar, FEP, and PFA. Evaluation of the fluoropolymers FEP and PFA as radon barriers are the first such measurements.


