<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The health risk from thoron (Rn-220) is usually ignored owing to its short half-life (55.6 s), but the generated thoron decay products can cause a significant dose contribution. In this study, altogether 51 Slovenian soil samples were investigated using an accumulation chamber technique to obtain information about thoron exhalation features. The obtained (massic) thoron exhalation results varied between 6.9 and 149 mBq·kg−1·s−1 (average: 55.2 mBq·kg−1·s−1). The Th-232 content was determined using HPGe gamma spectrometry. The Th-232 activity concentration ranged between 9.3 and 161.7 Bq·kg−1 (average: 64.6 Bq·kg−1). The thoron emanation features were also calculated from the obtained results (2.9 to 21.2% with an average of 8.6%). The thoron exhalation and emanation properties were compared with the radon exhalation and emanation features determined in a previous study. It was found that there was no correlation between the radon and thoron emanation features, according to the obtained data. This can be explained by the different Ra-224 and Ra-226 distributions in the soil grains. As a result, the thoron emanation factor cannot be predicted from radon emanation and <italic>vice versa.</italic></abstract>

The health risk from thoron (Rn-220) is usually ignored owing to its short half-life (55.6 s), but the generated thoron decay products can cause a significant dose contribution. In this study, altogether 51 Slovenian soil samples were investigated using an accumulation chamber technique to obtain information about thoron exhalation features. The obtained (massic) thoron exhalation results varied between 6.9 and 149 mBq·kg−1·s−1 (average: 55.2 mBq·kg−1·s−1). The Th-232 content was determined using HPGe gamma spectrometry. The Th-232 activity concentration ranged between 9.3 and 161.7 Bq·kg−1 (average: 64.6 Bq·kg−1). The thoron emanation features were also calculated from the obtained results (2.9 to 21.2% with an average of 8.6%). The thoron exhalation and emanation properties were compared with the radon exhalation and emanation features determined in a previous study. It was found that there was no correlation between the radon and thoron emanation features, according to the obtained data. This can be explained by the different Ra-224 and Ra-226 distributions in the soil grains. As a result, the thoron emanation factor cannot be predicted from radon emanation and vice versa.

Thoron emanation and exhalation of Slovenian soils determined by a PIC detector-equipped radon monitor

Radon Centre, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana,

Nukleonika

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The health risk from thoron (Rn-220) is usually ignored owing to its short half-life (55.6 s), but the generated thoron decay products can cause a significant...

Thoron emanation and exhalation of Slovenian soils determined by a PIC detector-equipped radon monitor

Published Online: Sep 10, 2016

Page range: 379 - 384

Received: Jan 08, 2016

Accepted: Mar 24, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nuka-2016-0063

Keywords
emanation, exhalation, gamma spectrometry, PIC detector, soil, thorium, thoron

© 2016 Jácint Jónás et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Thoron emanation and exhalation of Slovenian soils determined by a PIC detector-equipped radon monitor

Published Online: Sep 10, 2016

Page range: 379 - 384

Received: Jan 08, 2016

Accepted: Mar 24, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nuka-2016-0063

Keywordsemanation, exhalation, gamma spectrometry, PIC detector, soil, thorium, thoron

© 2016 Jácint Jónás et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
emanation, exhalation, gamma spectrometry, PIC detector, soil, thorium, thoron