Thanks anon. I was thinking about it when reading an old post that someone had put up asking jobs somewhere and what certain companies were like to work for.

I notice on the charts that spikes occur in the AM hours. Does anyone know why?

Anyone out there??

Hi Anthony,
Spikes are often associated with increased Radon gas concentration, which seeps naturally from the ground. Low pressure can pull it up from soil pores, warming by the sun can cause air currents to bring 'pools' to detectors, rain can bring it back down to the surface. Those detectors that filter the air are more sensitive to this, as Radon decay products are sticky solids easily caught.

Thank you for the reply. So these high peak readings have nothing to do with any vapor stacks releasing dangerous gas at these hours?
Thanks
Tony

If you are referring to power reactor cooling towers, they emit steam, and although the steam may contain Tritium (a radioactive form of Hydrogen), the EPA and private NETC detectors cannot really detect it due to the low energy of the beta decay particle (it is stopped by some 6 mm of air). The spikes seen on the detectors is much more likely natural Radon and related particles.

The AM Hour spikes that one finds on RadNets data are not radon induced. RA222 and almost every single of its daughters down the line produce Alpha and the occasional Beta particle. No Gamma. Its something else, and remember...Radnet no longer gives out Beta Data, only Gamma 2-9 and Dose Rate.

The Radon (222) daughter component Bismuth (214) is a gamma source, and based on its gamma energy level is shown to be the source of daily variations in this study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364682620301802. Radon exhaled by the ground tends to be more concentrated near the ground in the early morning. After the sun rises, it is diluted by warming and air movement.

The above paper can also be read at this link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337241701_Causes_of_the_Diurnal_Variation_observed_in_Gamma-ray_Spectrum_using_NaI_Tl_Detector