Characterization and long-term performance of the Radon Trapping Facility operating at the Modane Underground Laboratory

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61389005%3A_____%2F19%3A00517495" target="_blank" >RIV/61389005:_____/19:00517495 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/67985891:_____/19:00511399 RIV/68407700:21670/19:00334472 RIV/86652052:_____/19:N0000055

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ab368e" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ab368e</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6471/ab368e" target="_blank" >10.1088/1361-6471/ab368e</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Characterization and long-term performance of the Radon Trapping Facility operating at the Modane Underground Laboratory

Original language description

Radon is one of the main potential sources of background radiation for any rare event experiments like neutrinoless double beta decay or dark matter experiments. The Radon Trapping Facility (RTF) installed in 2004 at the Modane Underground Laboratory (LSM) has been running for nine years providing radon-purified air at a level of 10 mBq m(-3) for several experiments. The radon suppression principle is based on a radon physical adsorption using cooled compressed air at -55 degrees C pumped through a column filled with the K48 activated charcoal. After disassembling of the RTF, the 2.6 m high charcoal column has been divided into several layers in order to study with different techniques the dynamic adsorption coefficient (the K-factor) as a function of the depth and the radon spatial trapping profile by measuring the Pb-210 activity. It has been demonstrated that after almost a decade of running, the K-factor of the activated charcoal remains constant except for the first few cm of the column. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the mass activity of Pb-210 as a function of the depth of the charcoal column exhibits an exponential decay profile. The radon mean retention time tau(R) of (47.6 +/- 1.2) days and the radon mean free path of (28.9 +/- 0.4) cm have been derived and found to be consistent at 1 sigma with the ones obtained from the K-factor study, i.e. from a total independent measurement. The radon suppression factor of the RTF of 6790(-1720)(+/- 2370) has been also estimated with a value consistent at 2 sigma with the suppression factor measured during the RTF operation. Thus, this study has proven the capacity of the RTF to purify the LSM air from radon by more than three orders of magnitude during nine years of operation.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10304 - Nuclear physics

Project

<a href="/en/project/LM2015072" target="_blank" >LM2015072: Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane – participation of the Czech Republic</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2019

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Physics G-Nuclear and Particle Physics

ISSN

0954-3899

e-ISSN

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Volume of the periodical

46

Issue of the periodical within the volume

11

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

17

Pages from-to

115105

UT code for WoS article

000488088100002

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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