AN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION BY USING AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING PASSIVE RADON MONITOR.

The recently developed radon film-badge makes it possible to measure radon indoors, in soil, in water and/or in aqueous media (e.g. mud). As a result of its wide response linearity, this monitor has been successfully used to measure radon in-water with concentrations from 10 to ~10 000 Bq/L. By exploiting the unique characteristics of this badge, a mini-survey has been carried out by Health Canada in which radon in water was measured from 12 private wells, as well as in tap water originating from the Ottawa River. Due to the widespread interest of different laboratories in using these passive monitors, laboratories were provided with plastic films to construct their own badges by using in-house CR-39 detectors. Monitors were then irradiated by a known radon concentration at the National Institute of Radiation Metrology (ENEA)'s radon chamber and sent back to each laboratory for processing and counting. Even though these laboratories have been using different etching- and counting-procedures, the film-badge responses varied only within ~12%.

Radiological characterization of the ancient Roman tuff-pozzolana underground quarry in Orvieto (Italy): A natural laboratory to revisit the interactions between radionuclides and aerosols.

Orvieto (Italy) has a large network of underground tunnels quarried to extract tuff and pozzolana by Etruscans and Romans. One of these tunnels was chosen as natural laboratory to compare different radiation measurement and dose assessment methods. Indeed, tuff and pozzolana are very rich in natural radioactivity and are interesting from the radiation protection point of view since they are still used as building materials. In order to characterize this site an in situ experimental procedure was followed. It consisted in measurements carried out with different instruments: two portable gamma ray spectrometers, two gamma dose rate meters, two radon monitors and one two channel working level monitor. Samples of tuff and pozzolana stones were also collected to be measured with gamma spectrometry in laboratory. Due to the high content of 238U, 232Th (more than 200 Bq kg-1 for both radionuclides) and 40K (more than 2000 Bq kg-1) of tuff and pozzolana, elevated levels of exposure to natural radioactivity were found: indeed, with different instruments and approach, a gamma dose rate of about 1 µGy h-1 and an average radon concentration of about 10,000 Bq m-3, with a Potential Alpha Energy Concentration (PAEC) of 288 MeV cm-3, were measured. The radiological characteristics of Orvieto underground quarry make it a perfect site for "in field" intercomparisons of different measurement and dose assessment methods.

Effect of indoor-generated airborne particles on radon progeny dynamics.

In order to investigate the interaction between radon progeny and particles, an experimental campaign was carried out in a radon chamber at the Italian National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology, quantifying the amount of attached and unattached radon daughters present in air, as well as the equilibrium factor in the presence of particles generated through indoor sources. A fixed radon concentration was maintained, while particles were generated using incense sticks, mosquito coils and gas combustion. Aerosols were characterized in terms of particle concentrations and size distributions. Simultaneously, radon concentration and attached/unattached potential alpha energy concentration in the air were continuously monitored by two different devices, based on alpha spectroscopy techniques. The presence of particles was found to affect the attached fraction of radon decay products, in such a way that the particles acted as a sink for radionuclides. In terms of sources which emit large particles (e.g. incense, mosquito coils), which greatly increase particle surface area concentrations, the Equilibrium Factor was found to double with respect to the background level before particle generation sessions. On the contrary, the radon decay product dynamics were not influenced by gas combustion processes, mainly due to the small surface area of the particles emitted.

A step towards accreditation: A robustness test of etching process.

In the present study the robustness of the etching process used by our laboratory was assessed. The strategy followed was based on the procedure suggested by Youden. Critical factors for the process were estimated using both Lenth's method and Dong's algorithm. The robustness test evidences that particular attention needs to be paid to the control of the etching solution's temperature.

A comparison of radon and its decay products' behaviour in indoor air.

The inhalation of short-lived radon decay products (RDP) yields the greatest contribution to the natural radiation exposure. This paper deals with a study carried out to improve the knowledge of the behaviour of RDPs, their interaction with particulates and the plateout during the time. The tests confirmed that a high aerosol particle concentration increases the probability that an ion sticks to aerosol and remains long in the air, leading to both an increase of F and a decrease of fp, as reported in the literature. The same experimental protocol applied in a small radon chamber showed a strong reduction of the equilibrium factor (an average of ∼10 %), because in a small environment the plateout phenomenon prevails on the attachment to particulate.

Determination of blank indication of active radon monitors.

The importance of determination of the blank indication for active radon monitors is discussed. Two new blank chambers were developed at ENEA-INMRI that allows such determination with an uncertainty lower than a few Bq/m(3). Results are reported and that show the large blank variability between radon active monitors and its growth with time when such monitors are used at high radon concentrations.

Correction for radon distribution in solid/liquid and air phases in gamma-ray spectrometry.

The effect of radon diffusion and distribution between a (226)Ra matrix and the top air gap inside sample containers for gamma-ray spectrometry was studied. Containers filled at almost 100% or just 70% of total capacity yielded correction factors of about 7% and 20% respectively. Applying these correction factors allowed activity values calculated from (226)Ra or radon decay products to agree within 2%.

A new passive radon-thoron discriminative measurement system.

A new passive radon-thoron discriminative measurement system has been developed for monitoring radon and thoron individually. It consists of a 'couple' of passive integrating devices with a CR39 nuclear track detector (NTD). The experimental prototype is based on the application of a new concept of NTD instrument developed at ENEA, named Alpha-PREM, acronym of piston radon exposure meter, which allows controlling the detector exposure with a patented sampling technique (Int. Eu. Pat. and US Pat.). The 'twin diffusion chambers system' was based on two A-PREM devices consisting of the standard device, named NTD-Rn, and a modified version, named NTD-Rn/Tn, which was set up to improve thoron sampling efficiency of the diffusion chamber, without changing the geometry and the start/stop function of the NTD-Rn device. Coupling devices fitted on each device allowed getting a system, which works as a double-chamber structure when deployed at the monitoring position. In this paper both technical and physical aspects are considered.