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Environmental Monitoring of indoor Radon, Thoron and their Progeny in Dwellings of Uttar Pradesh, India

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Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Physics, M S (P.G.) College, Shaharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, INDIA
  • 2 Department of Physics, S S (P.G.) College, Mumukshu Ashram Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, 242001, INDIA

Int. Res. J. Environment Sci., Volume 4, Issue (1), Pages 24-27, January,22 (2015)

Abstract

The behavior of radioactive gases has received considerable attention over the past few decades due to the radiological risks to humans in indoor atmosphere. High radon levels were measured in dwellings of a number of countries including United States, Sweden and the United Kingdom. There is a concern that high levels of radon may contribute to an increased risk of lung cancer. These high indoor radon levels may exceed international guidelines and are associated with a number of factors including soil porosity, uranium content of the soil, building materials mode of construction, ventilation and metrological parameters. The variability of these factors accounts for the large range of the radon levels measured in dwellings. Recent epidemiological evidence suggests that inhalation of radon decay products in domestic environments could be a cause of lung cancer. The monitoring of radon, thoron and their progeny in different types of dwellings of Central Uttar Pradesh has been carried out using solid state nuclear track detector (SSNTD). The annual doses received due to radon and thoron by the inhabitants in the dwellings under study area has also been calculated. Based on the results it is found that the radon concentration in some selected parts of Central Uttar Pradesh varied from 21.17 Bq/m to 43.04 Bq/m with an average of (27.90 ± 1.03) Bq/m while the thoron concentration in same dwellings varied from 12.37 Bq/m to 22.79 Bq/m with an average of (16.75 ± 0.55Bq/m. The radon progeny levels in the dwellings under study area varied from 2.29 mWL to 4.65 mWL with an average of (3.02 ± 0.11) mWL while thoron progeny levels varied from 0.33 mWL to 0.62 mWL with an average of (0.45 ± 0.01mWL. The annual dose received by the inhabitant in the dwellings under study area varied from 0.85 mSv to 1.6 mSv with an average of (1.12 ± 0.04) mSv.

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