Development of a transfer standard for the measurement of low Rn-222 activity concentration in air

Abstract

A large volume transfer standard has been developed to calibrate commercial radon measurement devices in a homogeneous Rn-222 reference atmosphere. The transfer standard serves for the realization, maintenance and dissemination of the unit Bq/m3 below 1kBq/m3.The transfer standard consists of a multi-wire impulse ionization chamber, electronic measurement equipment and the corresponding software. The multi-wire impulse ionization chamber is composed of two parallel printed boards. Between the boards, 478 vertical electrode wires are soldered in to include a volume of 10L. In the dependency of the energy, the α-particles of Rn-222 and the decay products are detected in the active volume of the multi-wire impulse ionization chamber. By means of the measurement software an α-energy spectrum is produced. Via different algorithms, the activity concentration of the Rn-222 reference atmosphere is determined.