Full characterization and calibration of a transfer standard monitor for atmospheric radon measurements

In this work, a full characterization of the new user-friendly version of the Atmospheric Radon MONitor (ARMON), used to measure very low activity concentrations of the radioactive radon gas in the outdoor atmosphere, is carried out. The ARMON is based on the electrostatic collection of .sup.218 Po....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric measurement techniques 2024-05, Vol.17 (10), p.3047-3065
Main Authors: Curcoll, Roger, Grossi, Claudia, Röttger, Stefan, Vargas, Arturo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Atmospheric radon
Calibration
Detectors
Efficiency
Energy spectra
Greenhouse gases
Measurement
Offspring
Pollutants
Polonium
Progeny
Radiation
Radon
Radon content
Radon levels
Remote control
Sensors
Software
Software development
Thoron
Uncertainty
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Summary:In this work, a full characterization of the new user-friendly version of the Atmospheric Radon MONitor (ARMON), used to measure very low activity concentrations of the radioactive radon gas in the outdoor atmosphere, is carried out. The ARMON is based on the electrostatic collection of .sup.218 Po.sup.+ particles on a semiconductor detector surface. A main advantage of this instrument is that it offers high-resolution alpha-energy spectra, which will allow us to separate radon progeny (.sup.210 Po, .sup.218 Po, and .sup.214 Po). The monitor feature may also allow measurements of thoron (.sup.220 Rn) by collection of .sup.216 Po.sup.+, although the instrument is not calibrated for this gas. The total uncertainty of the ARMON detection efficiency obtained for hourly radon concentrations above 5 Bq m.sup.-3 was lower than 10 % (k= 1). The characteristic limits of the ARMON - being those dependent on the presence of thoron in the sampled air - were also calculated. A detection limit of 0.132 Bq m.sup.-3 was estimated in the absence of thoron. At a typical thoron concentration at atmospheric sites of 0.017 min.sup.-1, the detection limit was calculated to be 0.3 Bq m.sup.-3, but this can be reduced if using a delay volume, obtaining a decision threshold of 0.0045 Bq m.sup.-3 . Current results may allow us to confirm that the ARMON is suitable to measure low-level radon activity concentrations (1-100 Bq m.sup.-3) and to be used as a transfer standard to calibrate secondary atmospheric radon monitors.
ISSN:1867-8548
1867-1381
1867-8548
DOI:10.5194/amt-17-3047-2024