Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on March 8, 2005
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2005 113(3):321-325; doi:10.1093/rpd/nch467
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A simple method for measuring thoron spatial distributions
1 Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
2 Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Abbestrasse 212, 10587 Berlin, Germany
* Corresponding author: elisabetta.gargioni{at}ptb.de
Received December 7, 2004, accepted January 31, 2005
A simple but effective method that allows the measurement of the 220Rn spatial distribution in working or living environments using a solid-state detector is presented in this paper. The method is based on measurements of the alpha particles emitted by 216Po (the first 220Rn progeny) directly deposited on the detector surface at different distances from a 220Rn exhalation source. The validity of the method is shown by comparing the results of an experiment, where the 220Rn activity concentration is measured under conditions of diffusion at constant temperature, with finite-element calculations.