Activity Measurement of Airborne Alpha and Beta Particles in Destroyed Radiochemical Laboratories, at Al-Tuwaitha-Iraq Al-Alawy Iman Tarik1,*, Mzher Osamah Abdulameer2 1Department of Physics, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq 2Directorates of Radioactive Waste Treatments and Management, Ministry of Science and Technology, Baghdad, Iraq *Corresponding author: Iman Tarik Al-Alawy. Iman Tarik Al-Alawy; E-mail: profimantarik@gmail.com
Online published on 2 February, 2019. Abstract Radiochemistry laboratories are one of the most destructive nuclear facilities in Iraq. It is contaminated by many isotopes that emit alpha or beta particles. The indoor air of radiochemistry laboratories was monitored to determine alpha and beta concentrations by used the alpha/beta intelligent Continuous Air Monitor (iCAM) device. Alpha airborne particulates come from radon/thoron, whereas beta comes from background compensation. The concentration of R-222 and Rn-220 was found to be high in most samples measured inside the radiochemistry building, ranging from 12 to 52, and 0.08 to 0.41 respectively. The annual effective dose of exposure to radon and thoron ranged from 0.03 to 0.188. The concentration of radon and annual effective dose for workers are close to anxiety levels, especially in laboratories C1 and C2, since there is no guaranteed of good air exchange. Top Keywords Radon, Thoron, airborne, activity, annual effective dose, radiochemistry. Top |