A new approach to monitoring radon and radon progeny using a glass scintillator in a fiber bundle structure

A Ce3+-doped OXIDE glass possessing good thermal characteristics for fiber drawing was developed and drawn into 50 μm fibers. These fibers were close-packed to form a fiber bundle with channels between them. Radon gas was allowed to flow through these channels. The strategy was to hold radon atoms (222Rn) in the sensor for an extended time period and to give the alphas an immediate access to scintillators. llations were converted into electrical pulses through the use of a PM-tube (photomultiplier tube). A prototype radon gas sensor using fiber bundles with a pore volume of 0.865 cm3 was built and tested with radon gas. The results and modeling showed that steady state count rates could be obtained after ∼ 25 h and those values were proportional to the radon concentrations. The mean residence time of radon atoms at the sensor was found to be 113.2 s.