RT Journal Article
T1 A methodology to determine 212Pb, 212Bi, 214Pb and 214Bi in atmospheric aerosols; Application to precisely obtain aerosol residence times and Rn-daughters’ equilibrium factors
T2 Una metodología para determinar 212Pb, 212Bi, 214Pb y 214Bi en aerosoles atmosféricos. Aplicación para obtener tiempos de residencia de aerosoles y factores de equilibrio de los descendientes del radon
A1 Barba Lobo, Alejandro
A1 Gutiérrez Álvarez, Isidoro
A1 Gutiérrez de San Miguel Herrera, Enrique
A1 Bolívar Raya, Juan Pedro
K1 220Rn – 212Pb – 212Bi
K1 222Rn – 214Pb – 214Bi
K1 Aerosol residence times
K1 Equilibrium factors
K1 Gamma-ray spectrometry
AB Progeny of 222Rn and 220Rn, (212Pb, 212Bi, 214Pb and 214Bi) are essential to assess radiological hazard, external and internal doses, residence times and equilibrium factors. Precise measurements of these nuclides are quite complex due to their very short half-lives. This study outlines a new and precise methodology to measure these nuclides. Radon-222 and 220Rn were measured using a radon monitoring system, while their respective progenies were collected in an atmospheric filter using an ASS-500 sampler and measured by gamma-ray spectrometry. The 212Pb concentrations were very similar to the thoron ones, where all 212Bi/212Pb ratios were consistently less than 1. The relative uncertainties, σr, of the 212Pb and 212Bi activity concentrations, and 212Bi/212Pb activity ratio are generally less than 10%. Moreover, 214Pb/222Rn ratios were about 0.7, agreeing well with previous works. The σr for 214Pb, 214Bi and 214Bi/214Pb were generally less than 6%. This methodology was applied to estimate aerosol residence times using the 214Pb/222Rn and 212Bi/212Pb activity ratios, and to obtain equilibrium factors, achieving consistent results. Furthermore, the methodology consistency and validity range were studied with time elapsed between sampling end and counting start, and the sampling durations, finding the optimum times to precisely determine 212Pb, 212Bi, 214Pb and 214Bi.
PB Elsevier
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27947
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/27947
LA eng
NO Barba-Lobo, A., Gutiérrez-Álvarez, I., San Miguel, E. G., & Bolívar, J. P. (2023). A methodology to determine 212Pb, 212Bi, 214Pb and 214Bi in atmospheric aerosols; Application to precisely obtain aerosol residence times and Rn-daughters’ equilibrium factors. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 445, 130521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.130521
NO This research has partially funded by the projects of the Regional Government of Andalusia called “Treatment of acid leachates from phosphogypsum piles located at Huelva, and transport modeling of the released radionuclides” (Ref.: P20_00096), and “Valorization of inorganic wastes enriched in natural radioactivity for sustainable building materials” (Ref.: FEDER-UHU-202020), the project funded by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) “Radon exhalation from building materials; radiological impact and corrective measures” (Ref.: SUBV-4/2021), the project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities’ Research Agency “Development and optimization of a process for removing natural radionuclides in phosphogypsum leachates” (Ref.: PID2020–116461RB-C21), and the Project for Novel Principal Investigators “Quantitative study of the variables involved in the radon exhalation rate for granular solids; application to rafts of granular solid phosphogypsum” (Ref.: UHUPJ-00005–632). The authors would like to thank M. Baskaran for the explanations provided during the research stay of A.B.L. at the Wayne State University of Detroit (USA).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026