Retention of Pb isotopes in glass surfaces for retrospective assessment of radon exposure

• In recent years there has been increasing interest in radio-epidemiological techniques to retrospectively measure the radon dose exposure by determining the activity of 210Pb, the longest-lived 222Rn progeny, in glass surface layers. In this study the diffusion of 39 keV 209Pb+ ions implanted into glass using the IGISOL facility has been studied under conditions that mimic the recoil implantation of 210Pb from 222Rn. The resulting depth distributions of 209Pb were then measured after heat treatment in vacuum at different temperatures by a sputter erosion technique. The diffusion coefficient could be described by an Arrhenius equation D = D0exp(−H/kT) where and H = 2.81 ± 0.11 eV. No statistically significant loss of 209Pb from the sample was observed for annealing between 470 and 600 °C.

Nyckelord

Radon

Radioactive ion beams

Diffusion

Pb

Glass

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