Indoor radon measurement in residential / commercial buildings in Isfahan city
Abstract
Introduction: People are constantly exposed to radiation from natural and artificial sources of radiation. Radon is one of the natural radiation sources that its concentration in very high in some part of the world. The presence of radon gas in the air can increase the risk of lung cancer. In this study, the level of indoor radon in dwellings of Isfahan city was surveyed. It should be mentioned that an active alpha GUARD instrument was used to measure radon concentration. All of the measurments took place during the winter and spring of 2018.
Materials and methods: In the present survey, 51 residential/commercial buildings were considered to radon gas monitoring based on the population distribution on 15 urban areas and the population of each area and technical possibilities. In each residential/commercial buildings, sampling was carried out at different floors of the building. A professional radon monitoring device (Alpha GUARD PQ2000 PRO) was used to measure indoor radon gas concentration.
Results: The Results of measuring were shown that the radon concentration in the residential/commercial buildings varied from 3 to 251 Bq / m3, with a mean value of 28.57 ± 39.38 Bq / m3. The average annual effective dose received by the residents of the studied area was estimated to be 0.49 mSv. The results showed a significant difference between the average radon concentration in different floors and the different ventilation of the building, higher values in the lower floors and weaker ventilation.
Conclusion: Indoor radon concentration in 4 % of the building was determined to be higher than the limit (100 Bq / m3) recommended by the World Health Organization.
2. Fahiminia M, Fard RF, Ardani R, Naddafi K, Hassanvand MS, Mohammadbeigi A. Indoor radon measurements in residential dwellings in Qom, Iran. International journal of radiation research. 2016 Oct 1;14(4):331.
3. Armencea Es, Armencea A, Burghele B, Cucoş A, Maloş C, Dicu T. Indoor radon measurements in Bacău County. In: Paper presented at the first east european Radon symposium–FERAS. 2012. p. 0–7.
4. Kumari R, Kant K, Garg M. The effect of grain size on radon exhalation rate in natural-dust and stone-dust samples. Phys procedia. 2015;80:128–30.
5. Duggal V, Rani A, Mehra R. A study of seasonal variations of radon levels in different types of dwellings in Sri Ganganagar district, Rajasthan. Journal of radiation research and applied sciences. 2014 Apr 1;7(2):201-6.
6. WHO. Handbook on indoor radon - a public health perspective [Internet]. World Health Organization. World Health Organization; 2009 [cited 2018 Mar 5]. 110 p. Available from: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/44149/1/9789241547673_eng.pdf
7. Sharma A, Mahur AK, Yadav M, Sonkawade RG, Sharma AC, Ramola RC, et al. Measurement of natural radioactivity, radon exhalation rate and radiation hazard assessment in Indian cement samples. Physics procedia [Internet]. 2015;80:135–9. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phpro.2015.11.086
8. Borgoni R, De Francesco D, De Bartolo D, Tzavidis N. Hierarchical modeling of indoor radon concentration: How much do geology and building factors matter? Journal of environmental radioactivity. 2014 Dec 1;138:227-37.
9. Kim JW, Joo HY, Kim R, Moon JH. Investigation of the relationship between earthquakes and indoor radon concentrations at a building in Gyeongju, Korea. Nuclear engineering and technology. 2018 Apr 1;50(3):512-8.
10. Kusky TM. Geological hazards: a sourcebook [Internet]. Sourcebooks on hazards and disasters. Greenwood Press; 2003 [cited 2018 Jun 21]. ix, 297 p. Available from: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy037/2002192773.html%5Cnhttp://www.e-streams.com/es0611/es0611_2851.html
11. Coch NK. Geohazards: natural and human [Internet]. Prentice Hall; 1995 [cited 2018 Jun 7]. 481 p. Available from: http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Geohazards.html?id=96oPAQAAIAAJ&pgis=1
12. Shahrokhi A, Shokraee F, Reza A, Rahimi H. Health risk assessment of household exposure to indoor radon in association with the dwelling’s age. Journal of radiation protection research. 2015;40(3):155–61.
13. Abbasnezhad A. Environmental impacts and implications of the Radon-222, and it’s urgency attention in Iran; Asar’ha-ye zistmohiti-ye gaz-e Radon-222 va ahammiat-e tavajjoh beh an dar Iran. Iranian journal of science and technology. 2003;(26):17–31.
14. Tavakoli A, Parizanganeh A, Khosravi Y, Hemmati P. Reconnaissance study of residential radon concentration in Tarom country-Zanjan. Iranian journal of health and environment. 2017 Jun 15;10(1):115-24.
15. Mahvi AH, Madani AH, Fakhri Y. Effective dose of radon 222 received by different age groups from bottled waters in Bandar Abbas. Journal of preventive medicine. 2015;1(2):46–53.
16. Sohrabi M, Solaymanian AR. Indoor radon level measurements in some regions of Iran. International journal of radiation applications and instrumentation. Part D. nuclear tracks and radiation measurements. 1988 Jan 1;15(1-4):613-6. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/1359018988902129
17. Karimdoust S, Ardebili L. The environmental impact of radon emitted from hot springs of Sarein (A touristic city northwestern Iran). World applied sciences journal. 2010;10(8):930–5.
18. Yousefi Z, Naddafi K, Mohamadpur Tahamtan RA, Zazouli MA, Koushki Z. Indoor radon concentration in Gorgan dwellings using CR-39 detector. Journal of Mazandaran university of medical sciences. 2014;24(113):2–10.
19. Kant K, Upadhyay SB, Sharma GS, Chakarvarti SK. Measurement of inhalation dose due to radon and its progeny in an oil refinery and its dwellings. International journal of radiation research [Internet]. 2004 Mar 1;1(4):181–6. Available from: http://ijrr.com/article-1-27-en.html
20. Population and housing censuses [Internet]. Statistical Centre of Iran. 2016. Available from: http://jhm.srbiau.ac.ir/article_11665.html
21. User manual. AlphaGUARD portable radon monitor, Genitron instrument GmbH, Model PQ 2000 PRO. 2012. p. 1–59.
22. US-EPA. Protocols for radon and Radon decay product measurement in homes. EPA 402-R-92-003.
23. Health Canada. Guide for radon measurements in public buildings (workplace, schools, hospitals, care facilities, correctional centres). Environ Work Heal. 2016;
24. ICRP. Protection against radon-222 at home and at work. ICRP publ 65. 1993;3(22).
25. UNSCEAR. Sources, effects, and risks of ionizing radiation. Vol. I: sources, United Nations. 2000. 1-2454 p.
26. IAEA. IAEA safety guide No. RS-G-1.6, occupational radiation protection in the mining and processing of raw materials [Internet]. 2005. 95pp. Available from: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1183_web.pdf
27. Istrate MA, Catalina T, Cucos A, Dicu T. Experimental measurements of VOC and radon in two romanian classrooms. Energy procedia. 2016;85(November 2015):288–94.
28. Alharbi SH, Akber RA. Radon and thoron concentrations in public workplaces in Brisbane, Australia. Journal of environmental radioactivity. 2015;144:69–76.
Files | ||
Issue | Vol 3 No 4 (2018): Autumn 2018 | |
Section | Original Research | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/japh.v3i4.404 | |
Keywords | ||
Radon; Effective dose; Decay; Half-life; Isfahan |
Rights and permissions | |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |