Investigation of loss factors of aerosol particles in the sampling systems of a nuclear power plant

The loss factor of particles with different sizes in a sampling system of a nuclear power plant has been experimentally determined. As shown by optical particle size measurements, the particle size distribution of the test aerosol titanium dioxide (aerodynamic diameter between 0.6 and 8 μm) agrees well with that of the ambient aerosol in the nuclear power plant. The total loss factor for titanium dioxide lies between 1.3 and 1.6. This means a loss of particles of about 23–38% and shows that the transfer properties of the sampling system are good. The experimental results for small particles (aerodynamic diameter 0.6–8 μm) are in good agreement with those of theoretical estimations. The transfer properties of the sampling system for larger particles (aerodynamic diameters up to 3 mm) have been investigated, too. The results of the measured loss factors show that the sampling system is suitable even in this case.