A new method for the determination of radon in soil air by the “open vial” and integral counting with a liquid scintillation counter

Liquid scintillation counting for determination of radionuclides in environmental and nuclear application

“…This is performed in a tightly closed glass bottle where the soil is located at the bottom and the vial is hanging from a hook fixed into the stopper of the glass bottle [141]. The in situ measurement is performed by hanging an open LSC vial containing the cocktail inside a test hole or tube sunk into the soil [142].…”

Fast determination of indoor radon (222Rn) concentration using liquid scintillation counting

“…Therefore, simple air bubbling until the concentration of 222 Rn in the liquid scintillator reached a state of equilibrium in the ambient temperature is connected with the evaporation of part of the harmful solvent into the environment. The exposition of the open vial without bubbling can only be applied to high soil gas radon concentrations [ 13 , 14 ] or with a special counter construction with very low background for α –particle detection [ 18 , 19 ]. An alternative method, which depends on 10–20 l of air passing through 20 ml of scintillation solvent held at −78 °C in a bath of dry ice and acetone, gave satisfactory radon activities captured in scintillation vials, but its applications for routine large scale screening purposes are limited [ 16 , 17 ].…”