Technique for Determining the Activity and Size Distribution of β Emitting Dust Particles Using Autoradiography

Abstract

A technique is described for determining the activity and size distribution of β emitting dust particles using autoradiography. An X-ray film is more sensitive to β rays and more useful than the nuclear emulsion in the β ray autoradiography. Variations of the black spot diameter with the development time and temperature were within a few percent for the deviation of ±0.1 min and ±0.5°C from the standard condition respectively. About fifty micron thick separator of Lyphan did not cause any variation of the spot size for β rays from fission product nuclides.
Error in estimating the activity and size distribution of β emitting particles by autoradiography is discussed. The application of the present technique to aerosol analysis is described showing an example.