RE: Radon Emanation / Tilling Soil

[Rodney Bauman <RBauman@wssrap.com>]

Assuming:	Ra-226 soil concentration of 1.2 pCi/g (average here in St.
Louis),
		till depth of 20 cm,
		soil density of 1.6 g/cm3,
		radon equilibrium factor of 20% (present in pores),
		available radon released = 100%
		till rate = 20 min/acre (~ 3 m2/sec), assuming a tractor
pulling a plow

I calculate an instantaneous flux release rate of 2.31 E5 pCi/m2/sec.

I'm definitely not an expert in this area, but this appears to be a high
value.  I know it's a very short time (i.e., 1 sec), but what would be the
committed dose from, say, 200 hours/yr of such activity assuming moderate
dilution factors?  How does this compare to the nuclear industry's public
dose restriction of 100 mrem/yr?

Rodney Bauman, CHP, RRPT
Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project
St. Charles, Missouri
rbauman@wssrap.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Lorraine Marceau-Day [mailto:day@lsu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 8:51 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Radon Emanation / Tilling Soil

Dear Radsafers,

Does anyone have a radon emanation rate from the tilling of soil?
Someone asked this question and I was stumped.


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