Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.3390/w12113083 |
Licence  |
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| Title (Primary) | Absolute measurement of thoron in surface waters |
| Author | Lane-Smith, D.; Schubert, M. |
| Source Titel | Water |
| Year | 2020 |
| Department | CATHYD |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 11 |
| Page From | art. 3083 |
| Language | englisch |
| Keywords | environmental tracer; thoron; 220Rn; radon; 222Rn; groundwater discharge |
| Abstract | Thoron (radon-220, 220Rn, half-life 55.6 s) is a useful aqueous tracer suitable for applications such as locating and measuring groundwater discharge in surface waters (including the coastal ocean) and detecting radium-224 (224Ra) bearing scale inside water pipes. Generally, such applications require only relative thoron measurements in the water. However, if a thoron-in-water quantification in absolute numbers is desired the knowledge of the thoron sensitivity of the measurement system is obligatory. Absolute readings would, e.g., give a measure of the 224Ra activity in the sediment, supporting the thoron, or of the quantity of 224Ra in the pipe scale. Since there is no standardised source of thoron-in-water (such as a NIST standard), there is no way to calibrate a thoron-in-water measurement system, in the usual sense. Up until now, therefore, it has not been possible to make absolute measurements of thoron in water. This paper presents a novel method of assessing the sensitivity of a mobile thoron-in-water measurement system. The paper analyses such systems and describes a straightforward experimental approach to obtain all setup-specific values of critical parameters that will allow a reasonably precise determination of the system thoron sensitivity. The method is simple enough that a thoron sensitivity calibration can be performed on site with no additional equipment. |
| Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=24045 |
| Lane-Smith, D., Schubert, M. (2020): Absolute measurement of thoron in surface waters Water 12 (11), art. 3083 10.3390/w12113083 |
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