On soil activation by cosmic rays at different altitudes

Measuring radon-due neutron flux at various altitude (100, 1000, 1700, 4300 m above sea level) we found an evidence of significant increase of radon concentration with altitude. It was also conirmed by direct radon measurements at high altitude. This allowed us to assume cosmic rays could take part...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Stenkin, Yuri V, Shchegolev, Oleg B
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 25.09.2017
Subjects
Activation
Altitude
Cosmic rays
High altitude
Neutron flux
Nuclear reactions
Nuclei (nuclear physics)
Physics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors
Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Radium 226
Radon isotopes
Radon levels
Sea level
Thorium
Uranium
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Summary:Measuring radon-due neutron flux at various altitude (100, 1000, 1700, 4300 m above sea level) we found an evidence of significant increase of radon concentration with altitude. It was also conirmed by direct radon measurements at high altitude. This allowed us to assume cosmic rays could take part in process of soil activation: they transform long-lived nuclei of uranium and thorium to nuclei with shorter life-time through specific nuclear reactions. If the resulting nuclei belong to the U-238 radioactive chain they can lead to producion of Ra-226 and then to Rn-222, thus significantly increasing its production at high altitudes where cosmic ray flux is high.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1709.09661