Accounting for Rn-222 loss during oven drying for the immediate laboratory gamma-ray spectroscopy of collected soil samples

摘要

Drying soil samples in an oven to remove water alters the Rn emanation rate. Measurements of the oven drying Rn-222 emanation rate from soil were made with a continuous radon monitor and the degree of Rn-222 disequilibrium was quantified by laboratory gamma-ray spectroscopy. This paper presents a disequilibrium correction where the Ra-226 activity in oven-dried soil samples is inferred from immediate laboratory gamma-ray spectroscopy of Bi-214 before Rn-222 and its decay progeny reach secular equilibrium. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. [References: 52]