Location

Address:  Avda. Diagonal, 647. 08028 Barcelona
Telephone: +34 934016740 / +34 934016049
Fax: +34 934017149
E-mail:  arturo.vargas@upc.edu

Staff

Technical Director:  Arturo Vargas Drechsler
Technician:  Vicente Blasco Argente

Aims

• To provide calibration service in order to cover the needs of radon detectors user.
• To organise intercomparison campaigns.
• To collaborate in the development of INTE research projects, especially in the development of radon detector techniques.

Activities

• Calibrations and intercomparisons of radon and thoron concentration measuring equipment.
• Study of the response of radon and thoron detectors under different environmental conditions.

Equipment

 The radon chamber is composed of a 20 m³ hermetically sealed chamber with measuring equipment and automatic control systems in order to reproduce conditions of varying concentrations of radon and daughters, as well as the possibility of altering climatic conditions.

 The radon chamber is traceable to the PTB reference laboratory and has the capacity to carry out calibrations and response studies of measurement systems of radon concentration using both integrating and continuous measurements.

General characteristics of the INTE radon chamber:
 

• Size: 2.91 x 2.91 x 2.30 m³
• Built with welded steel sheets of 2 mm thick
• Radon exhalation: 0 - 256 Bq mín-1 (a source of  ²²⁶Ra provides 2101 kBq)
• Radon concentration: 0 - 80 kBq m³± 10% (k=2) traceable to the PTB
• Air renovation rate for radon control: 0 – 0.3 h^-1
• Temperatura range: 5 - 50 ºC ± 1 ºC
• Relative humidity: 5 - 95 % ± 2 %