Radon measurement in carbonated water with the Lucas cell and charcoal adsorption methods

There have been developed several different methods for measuring radon concentration in water which are now widely used, such as: liquid scintillation counting, Lucas cell counting, gamma and alpha spectroscopy. However, as far as the radon measurements in carbonated water are concerned, there are some issues caused by the gas excess. The aim of our work was to develop a simple method for measuring radon concentration in carbonated water that can be used for in situ measurements. Nevertheless, we propose not one, but two methods for measuring radon concentration in carbonated water. Thus, the first one is based on Lucas scintillation cells, and can be used for on-site measurements, while the second one utilizes activated charcoal adsorption, and needs a setup laboratory for gamma spectrometry measurements. For the evaluation of the methods, we compared the results of the Lucas cell-Luk3C method and of the activated charcoal method, both for non-carbonated and carbonated water. The simplest method for radon concentration determination - Lucas cell method - was successfully applied to fourteen natural carbonated water samples from Borsec to Bilbor area. The radon concentrations obtained ranged from 5.6 ± 0.5 to 39.6 ± 4.0 Bq/L, with a mean of 15.9 ± 2.6 Bq/L, these values are lower than 100 Bq/L, the maximum value recommended by the World Health Organization. (author)