Toward a standard method for determining waterborne radon.

Abstract

Many details of the liquid scintillation method for the determination of waterborne Rn have underappreciated effects on the measurement. This paper quantifies effects arising from the type of cocktail, vial, standardization procedure, temperature control, and instrument parameters chosen in the procedure. Comments are made on sampling procedures. Details are provided that allow an optimization of the technique so that concentrations approaching 8 Bq dm-3 (200 pCi L-1) can be measured reliably with a precision (2 sigma) of 20% when counting times are only 20 min.