title: Generation and control of thoron emanated from lantern mantles.
abstract: This paper describes the performance of a thoron ((220)Rn) flowthrough source made of a commercially available lantern mantle. This (220)Rn source is easy to construct and operate and has a negligible radon ((222)Rn) gas generated when the air was passed through the source. We studied the (220)Rn concentration generated from the lantern mantles in terms of the variability in concentration associated with both the total weight of the lantern mantles used in the source and the air flow rate used in the experimental chamber. We found that the concentration of (220)Rn generated in air ranged from 0.9 to 150 kBq m(-3) and exponentially depended on the absolute humidity. The (220)Rn concentration increased linearly with increasing total weight of the lantern mantles, but variations in the rate of air flow passed through the source had no influence on the observed (220)Rn concentration.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Radiation Protection, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage, Chiba 263-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsuyuki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sorimachi
authors.forename: Sarata Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sahoo
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tokonami