title: Monitoring of short-lived radon progeny in mines.
abstract: Obligatory measurements of the potential alpha energy concentration of short-lived radon progeny have been performing in the Polish underground mines since 1989. In consideration of economic aspects, an attempt was made from the very beginning to combine it with measurements of the dust concentration. Therefore the developed measuring units were an integral part of the dust samplers complying with the requirements of the State Mining Authority to apply them in underground mines. This way the developed devices could fulfil two measurement tasks simultaneously: measurement of the dust concentration and potential alpha energy concentration of short-lived radon progeny. The new device based on the thermoluminescence detectors is able to cooperate with the dust samplers made by the SKC company and equipped with a cyclone making it possible to operate them constantly for one working day. The lower limit of detection was equal about 0.04 microJ m(-3) at a 95% confidence level and 1 h pumping.
authors.affiliation: Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarkow 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland. brxks@gig.katowice.pl
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Skubacz
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bywalec
mesh_terms: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000032:analysis*; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008906:Mining / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D017687:Radon Daughters / Q000032:analysis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D004391:Dust; D017687:Radon Daughters