Thoron Interference on Performance of Continuous Radon Monitors: An Experimental Study on Four Devices and a Proposal of an Indirect Method to Estimate Thoron Concentration

Christian Di Carlo, Marco Ampollini, Sara Antignani, Mario Caprio, Carmela Carpentieri and Francesco Bochicchio
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Christian Di Carlo: Italian National Institute of Health, National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics, Viale Regina Elena, 299-00161 Rome, Italy
Marco Ampollini: Italian National Institute of Health, National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics, Viale Regina Elena, 299-00161 Rome, Italy
Sara Antignani: Italian National Institute of Health, National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics, Viale Regina Elena, 299-00161 Rome, Italy
Mario Caprio: Italian National Institute of Health, National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics, Viale Regina Elena, 299-00161 Rome, Italy
Carmela Carpentieri: Italian National Institute of Health, National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics, Viale Regina Elena, 299-00161 Rome, Italy
Francesco Bochicchio: Italian National Institute of Health, National Center for Radiation Protection and Computational Physics, Viale Regina Elena, 299-00161 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-9

Abstract: The performance of continuous radon monitors (CRMs) is usually evaluated under controlled conditions in a radon chamber during calibrations or intercomparison exercises. The impact of thoron on CRMs response is rarely evaluated; in case the evaluation is performed, it is carried out in a controlled atmosphere with relatively constant, homogeneous, and generally high thoron concentrations and very low radon levels. In a real indoor environment, both radon and thoron concentrations are extremely variable, so the thoron interference evaluations reported in the literature are generally not applicable to CRMs used to measure radon concentration indoors. For this reason, an experimental study was carried out with four different CRMs in an indoor environment (an office room) where medium-to-high concentrations of both radon and thoron were expected. Thoron concentration has been separately evaluated throughout two different active monitors. Three CRMs resulted in overestimations of radon concentration by about 10% due to thoron interference, whereas such interference results were negligible for the fourth CRM. However, the thoron interference can also be used to assess thoron concentration by using CRM not specifically designed to do so. Based on the results of this study, an indirect method to assess thoron concentration is indeed proposed, relying on the combination of two identical monitors (one placed right close to the wall and the other one far enough from there).

Keywords: radon monitor; thoron interference; indoor radon concentration; thoron sensitivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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