Calc. for Rn leaker

["Dale E. Boyce" <dale@radpro.uchicago.edu>]

I should have include this in my first post.  If you haven't got
it already, I recommend downloading raddk303.exe from romulus.
executing it expands dk.exe and its supporting files.  If it
is a Rn leaker and not a Ra leak, and you know the time the wipe
was taken, counted on the proportional counter and the Ge(Li),
it can help you figure out what the Rn leak rate was.  It might
require playing around with it a little.  I believe there may
also be a program out there that is specific to Rn.

You may be able to tell how long a Rn leak has been occurring by
looking at the 46.5 KeV line from Pb-210 (RaD).  It has a 4.1%
branch.  Combined with he 22 Year halh-life of Pb-210, a source needs
to have been leaking for awhile before you'll see it.

If it is a recent Rn leak, most of what you'll see is 
Pb-214 -> Bi-214 -> Po-214 ->
26.8 m B- 19.9 m B-       alpha

with the Pb-214 and Bi-214 half-lives so close, the behavior of
the total activity curve at short times can look a little funky
depending on how nearly in equalibrium the two are to begin with.

Boy my English teacher would be proud of that last sentence :)