PNNL

Abstract

Ambient air monitoring for non-research applications (e.g. compliance) occurs at locations throughout the world. Often, the air sampling systems employed for these purposes employee simple yet robust equipment capable of handling the rigors of demanding sampling schedules. At the Hanford Site (near Richland, Washington) concentrations of radionuclides in ambient air are monitored continuously at 44 locations. In 2004, mechanical dry-gas meters were incorporated into the Hanford Site ambient air sample collection system to allow the direct measurement of sample volumes. These meters replaced a portable airflow measurement system that required two manual flow measurements and a sample duration measurement to determine sample volume. A six-month evaluation of the dry-gas meters compared sample volumes calculated using the original flow rate method to the direct sample volume measurement (new method). The results of the evaluation indicate that use of the dry-gas meters result in accurate sample volume measurements and provide greater confidence in the measured sample volumes. In several years of in-network use, the meters have proven to be reliable and have resulted in an improved sampling system.