Tasas de exhalación superficial de Radón-222 de los sedimentos de las lagunas de aguas residuales de actividades mineras en la provincia de El Oro

Abstract

The objective of this research project was to determine the surface and mass exhalation rates of radon-222 in sediments from mining activities in the province of El Oro. The closed chamber method was used with two chambers named A and B of volumes 125 and 51 litres respectively. The detection system consisted of a Pylon AB7 (Alpha-Beta generation 7) monitor interfaced with a Lucas Cell 600P (600 by Pylon) detector. The values of the leakage rate of the chambers were calculated from the initial slope of the radon decay curve inside the chambers, obtaining values of (0.0099 ± 0.0010) 1/h for chamber A and (0.0277 ± 0.0047) 1/h for chamber B. The laboratory background concentration value obtained was (48.34 ± 8.36) Bq/m3, within chamber A this was equal to (42.76 ± 5.07) Bq/m3 and within chamber B a value of (44.83 ± 6.25) Bq/m3 was obtained, these results show great compatibility between them. Surface and mass exhalation rates of sediment samples from a mining wastewater lagoon at the Torata Mining Concession showed patterns compatible with the radon background of the chambers and were therefore concluded to be radon-free. Further studies are recommended after this one when the mine is in exploitation stage in order to compare the results obtained in this research.