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A method for determining soil gas 220Rn (thoron) concentrations

A R Hutter1

  • 1Environmental Measurements Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, New York, NY 10014-3621, USA.

Health Physics
|June 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary
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A new method accurately measures soil gas radon-220 (220Rn) using scintillation detectors. This technique allows for precise quantification of 220Rn and radon-222 (222Rn) in soil gas samples.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Science
  • Radiochemistry
  • Geophysics

Background:

  • Radon isotopes (220Rn and 222Rn) are naturally occurring radioactive gases in soil.
  • Accurate measurement of soil gas radon is crucial for environmental monitoring and radiological assessments.
  • Existing methods for measuring soil gas radon isotopes can be time-consuming or lack precision.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate a technique for accurate, precise, and rapid measurement of soil gas 220Rn.
  • To quantify the uncertainty associated with measuring both 220Rn and 222Rn in soil gas.
  • To determine the minimum detectable concentration of 220Rn using the developed method.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized commercially available grab-sample scintillation detectors.

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  • Employed a two-counting period method: an initial 1-minute count and a subsequent 5- or 10-minute count.
  • Calculated 220Rn concentration by subtracting background 222Rn counts from the initial count and using the remaining counts.

    • Main Results:

    • Achieved overall uncertainties of 19.8% for 220Rn and 10.8% for 222Rn at concentrations above 5 kBq m-3.
    • Determined a lower limit of detection for 220Rn at approximately 500 Bq m-3 with an overall error of 30%.
    • Demonstrated that averaging three serial measurements reduces 220Rn uncertainty to approximately 20% at low concentrations.

    Conclusions:

    • The developed two-counting period method provides accurate and precise measurements of soil gas 220Rn and 222Rn.
    • The technique is suitable for measuring typical soil gas radon concentrations with quantifiable uncertainties.
    • The method's sensitivity is sufficient for detecting low-level 220Rn concentrations, with uncertainty influenced by co-existing 222Rn levels.