2012: Removal of the long-lived 222Rn daughters from copper and stainless steel surfaces

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

Volume 676, 1 June 2012, Pages 140–148

G. Zuzel a), M. Wójcik b)

a) Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, P.O. Box 103 980, D-69029 Heidelberg, Germany
b) M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Reymonta 4, PL-30-059 Kraków, Poland

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168900211022522

Abstract

Removal of the long-lived 222Rn daughters from copper and stainless steel surfaces was investigated. Etching and electropolishing were applied to discs exposed earlier to a strong radon source for 210Pb, 210Bi and 210Po deposition. Cleaning efficiency for 210Pb was tested with a n-type high purity germanium spectrometer, for 210Bi a beta spectrometer and for 210Po an alpha spectrometer was used. According to the performed measurements electropolishing removes very effectively all the isotopes from copper and stainless steel. Copper etching reduces efficiently lead and bismuth however for polonium the effect is negligible because of its fast re-deposition. For stainless steel, etching is much more effective compared to copper and it also works for 210Po.