Radon concentration dependence of alpha radioactivity measurement using ionized air transportation

Naito, Susumu*; Sano, Akira*; Izumi, Mikio*; Noda, Etsuo*; Hayashi, Kazuo*; Sato, Mitsuyoshi*; Suto, Osamu; Miyamoto, Yasuaki ; Kondo, Shinichi*; Iinuma, Koichi*; Nambu, Kenichi*

An alpha radioactivity monitor (alpha-clearance monitor) is being developed to measure alpha radioactivity of uranium contaminated waste with large and complex surfaces. It uses an alpha radioactivity measurement method by collecting the air ionized by alpha particles using an air stream and by measuring its ion current. One of the major problems of the alpha-clearance monitor is the background ion current mainly by radon in atmosphere (700 fA), which is much larger than ion current of an alpha particle (several fA). It strongly influences on the detection limit of alpha radioactivity. In order to improve the detection limit, we developed a method to monitor the radon concentration inside the monitor without the additional radon detector. In addition, the influencing factors on the detection limit: ion mobility and ion recombination coefficient were measured and evaluated on various environmental conditions (temperature, humidity and aerosol density).