Pilot Study of the Application of Plastic Scintillation Microspheres to Rn-222 Detection and Measurement
Abstract
This work demonstrates that when plastic scintillation microspheres (PSms) synthesized from polystyrene are exposed to 222Rn in air or water, they concentrate 222Rn in their volume. A theoretical model, based on the solution of the diffusion equation is developed, in order to describe the 222Rn sorption and desorption processes in PSms. A macroscopic quantity termed “sampling efficiency” is used to quantify the absorption properties of the PSms. The sampling efficiency is estimated by exposure of PSms to 222Rn in air and water. Estimates of the counting efficiency for measurement of the exposed PSms by commercial scintillation counters are presented. The results show that polystyrene PSms are simultaneously good samplers and detectors of 222Rn. These properties indicate that sensitive approaches for the measurement of 222Rn based on absorption and scintillation counting of PSms can be developed.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
- Pub Date:
- April 2016
- DOI:
- 10.1109/TNS.2016.2530857
- Bibcode:
- 2016ITNS...63.1209M