[ RadSafe ] Fwd: Fwd: [New post] Raised radiation level found inMissouri ...

[Andycgeo at aol.com]

Back in the 1970's  I made lots of radon emanation  measurements  from soil 
during all seasons in Chester New Jersey. In the last two weeks of  January 
and the first two weeks of February when the top 2-3 inches of  soil was 
frozen the radon emanation dropped by a factor of 20-30. I expect that  a 
similar reduction in emanation will occur with ice on top of the soil. 
 
Andy George 
 
 
In a message dated 1/7/2014 2:09:20 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
jjshonka at shonka.com writes:

When the  ground freezes, radon emanation rates go to near zero.  The ground
a  few hundred kilometers west of the area provides most of the radon seen
in  the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere.  This radon would  be
available for co-precipitation during rainfall or snowfall events.   When
spring thaw comes, radon can be much higher than "normal" for a short  time
due to higher than normal levels of radon in the ground.  ANL  reported an
incident many years ago due to this phenomenon.


On  Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 12:34 PM, Chris Alston <achris1999 at gmail.com>  
wrote:

> Folks
>
> What is happening to the radon source  term, given the cold and
> snowpack?  I can remember, many years  ago, when I was green as a
> grasshopper, doing verification of remedial  action for depleted U on a
> property (a large lawn or backyard, from  which we had stripped the
> sod) with a FIDLER, during an afternoon when  it was warm, sunny, and
> breezy.  I went back to finish work the  next morning, when it was
> cold, damp, and heavily foggy (the airport  was socked-in).  The whole
> area was "hot" again.  Baffled, I  walkie-talkied my boss.  He laughed,
> and explained, basically,  that due to the low-pressure, more *natural*
> radon was emanating from  the soil, and it was not moving much, due to
> the cold, so the  daughters were ingrowing.  In effect, our carefully
> determined  gamma background for the area was out the window.
>
>  Cheers
> cja
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>  From: Brennan, Mike  (DOH) <Mike.Brennan at doh.wa.gov>
> Date:  Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 11:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post]  Raised radiation level found
> inMissouri Snow
> To: "The  International Radiation Protection (Health Physics)
> MailingList"  <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> I don't know the answer to this  offhand, but how does the response of
> a GM tube change with  temperature?  The reason I ask is that it is
> currently COLD in  much of the Midwest, and it wouldn't surprise me if
> things are  different at -20C.
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-- 
Joseph J. Shonka,  Ph.D.
Shonka Research Associates, Inc.
119 Ridgemore Circle
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