In a passive dosimeter including a diffusion chamber having an interior space, and an alpha particle detector located within the chamber for producing an indication of the concentration of radon and thoron gas and decay products and the relative percentages of radon and thoron individually, the diffusion chamber is constructed so that the interior space is open to the outside, the size of the detector and of the interior space are selected for causing the differences in path length of alpha particles in the interior space to permit the emission energy to be determined independently of the location of decay events, and the surface of the chamber bordering the interior space is electrically conductive.