Response of a new charcoal-etched radon track dosimeter

Abstract

A new dosimeter for radon measurements in the natural environment was developed and its response to exposure time was measured. The dosimeter is based on the utilization of the activated charcoal which acts as a radon collector from the air and a CR-39 etched track detector which records alpha particles emitted by radon and its decay products adsorbed onto charcoal grain. The response of the dosimeter for a short exposure time (1h) was found to be ∼500 tracks cm−2/kBq m−3h which is two orders of magnitude higher than that attainable with a standard dosimeter using etched track detectors.