Page 34 - Winter 2026

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Radioactive Gases and Their Industrial Uses
by Dr. E. J. WILSON*
(A lecture demonstration delivered at the Thirteenth Annual Electronics Exhibition and Convention
of the Northern Division of the Institution of Electronics).
The general characteristics of radioactive gases are outlined and the health hazards and general handling techniques
are discussed. Their industrial uses including Ventilation experiments, leak detectors, static eliminators and low
intensity light sources are considered.
INTRODUCTION to conduct a small ventilation experiment in a room
In some respects it is unfortunate that the gases most of 1000 cu. ft.
frequently used in industry do not possess radioactive
isotopes of reasonably long half life, and emitted However, in the majority of experiments with gases,
particles which can be detected with ease. For instance, it is not necessary to use a radioactive or enriched stable
no radioisotope of nitrogen or oxygen with a half life isotope of the gas in question. The addition of a radio-
longer than 10 minutes has to date been discovered. It active isotope of a different gas will be suitable for

Fig. 1. A Radioactive Gas Handling Laboratory.
is obvious that the activity would have decayed to a many experiments providing any large differences in
negligible proportion before such a short half life iso- density of the gases do not seriously affect the validity
tope had even been delivered from Harwell. The use of of the results. For instance Xe 133 or Kr 85 can be
INSTITUTION OF ELECTRONICS NEWS: isotope techniques for following the course of chemical used to follow the flow of air in ventilation experiments.
and physical experiments with such gases can only be
FROM THE ARCHIVES 35 carried out with a source containing one of the stable Table I contains a list of the commoner gases with
isotopes in an enriched form. Analyses of samples the appropriate isotope which could be used in tracer
COMPUTERS - MASTER OR SERVANT? 42 becomes more difficult, in many cases, necessitating the experiments.
use of a mass spectrometer.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY 43 Although oxygen and nitrogen enriched in O 18 and AVAILABLE RADIOACTIVE GASEOUS
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ALTIMEX – LORD MAYOR VISIT PRESS RELEASE 44 N respectively, are available in this country, the high ISOTOPES
price forbids their use, in for instance, ventilation ex-
Neglecting the gaseous compounds of carbon and
MAKE YOUR BUSINESS THE FIRST TO BE FOUND ON GOOGLE 45 periments. The limit of detection of the enriched stable sulphur, only four radioactive gaseous isotopes are
isotope is such that it wo ld require about £200 f 0 18 The appropriate physical
o
u
STORY OF SERENDATA BY SYSDOC 46 produced in this country.
*Radiochemical Centre, Amersham. properties of these gases are given in Table II.
AQR SAFE WATER 47
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