Radon dosimetry
- Fig.1 Electronic of Radon exposure meter
- Fig.2 Radon exposure meter prototype
- Fig.3 Advertisement of Saphymo for planned commercial version of our prototype.
Develpment of a New electronic Personal Exposure Meter for Radon Gas
Overview: A new electronic meter for personal radon exposures was developed and several proto-types were built. The exposure meter is optimized with respect to short term (days) and long term (> 1 year) measurements of indoor radon concentrations and personal radon exposure. The exposure meter records measured concentration levels in adjustable time intervals allowing a time resolved analysis.
Principle: The exposure meter mainly consists of a radon diffusion chamber including silicon detectors (2 detectors with 200 mm² active area each). In con-trast to commercially available exposure meters, our device is characterised by a special low-power ampli-fier, to ensure a battery lifespan longer than one year. Countrates are processed and stored by means of a low power microcontroller.
Advantages: The low weight (150 g) and small casing (113x29x62 mm³) allows the exposure meter to be carried on person easily. The low power con-sumption allows long-term measurements for more than a year without recharge interruptions. Countrates in a 100 Bq/m³ radon gas atmosphere are about 3 counts per hour. In the future, the exposure meter may have the pontential to replace conventional film badge dosimeters in the field of personal radon expo-sure determination. Its advantages over the film badge dosimeters are: online information on exposure available (without interrupting the measurement), time-resolved exposure monitoring possible, and lower measurement uncertainties achievable.
Applications: Prototypes of the exposure meters have already been used to detect radon exposures at low levels in the region around Munich, Germany, and at high levels in the Bad Gastein healing cave, Austria, and in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt (see Environmental Dosimetry on this web site).
Recently, a joint venture was initiated with Saphymo GmbH, to develop a commercial version of our prototype (Fig. 3).
References:
F. L. Karinda, C. Köstinger, W. Rühm. Realtime assessment of individual radon exposure in the Gasteiner Heilstollen, Austria. In preparation, 2010.
E. Gruber, E. Salama, W. Rühm. Real-time measurement of individual occupational radon exposures in tombs of the valley of the kings, Egypt. Submitted, 2010.
F. L. Karinda, E. Gruber, E. Salama, W. Rühm, H.G. Paretzke. Realtime assessment of radon gas exposures of individuals and implications for epidemiological risk estimates. In preparation, 2010.
F.L. Karinda, B. Haider, W. Rühm. A new electronic personal exposure meter for radon gas. Radiation Measurements, 43, 1170-1174, 2008.