Radon and Radon-Daughter Exposure Measurements by Through-Etched Track Registration in Cellulose Nitrate (Application to the Monitoring of Cumulative Exposure in Uranium Mines)

摘要

The use of cellulose nitrate films LR-115 type II (Kodak-Pathe) as a practical, exposure integrating device to measure the level of exposure to alpha particles in atmospheres which contain radon and radon-daughter products is investigated. The analysis of a number of cellulose nitrate films that have been exposed to calibrated radon test-chamber atmospheres has indicated good correlations between through-etched track density p and integrated alpha-particle exposure sigma a (Working-Level-Hour). It is shown that the response of the cellulose nitrate detector to radon-daughter alpha-particle exposures is linear, and that reliable conservative estimations of the Working-Level-Hour can be obtained from sigma a = 3.0(p-b), where p is expressed in tracks/mm exp 2 (b is the background level). These results recommend the use of the special red cellulose nitrate films as a convenient dosimeter for monitoring radioactive contaminants in mine atmospheres. (Atomindex citation 13:703583)