No abstract

A commercially available portable tritium-in-air monitor was calibrated for detecting the concentration of tritium-in-air, 14C-in-air, and various radioactive noble gases. Calibrations were performed both experimentally, using assayed quantities of the calibration gases, and theoretically, by simulating the monitor's response using Monte Carlo code. The experimental and theoretical calibrations agreed within +/- 10% for all gases tested with the exception of 41Ar-in-air where the agreement was approximately 20%. The results show that, although the monitor can be used to measure a wide range of radioactive gases, if more than one gas is present the monitor can not be used to accurately determine the concentration of, and hazard posed by, these gases. It is also shown that the monitor's ability to accurately assess tritium-in-air hazards would be seriously compromised by the presence of other radioactive gases.