A study on radionuclides content and radon exhalation from soil of Northern India

Abstract

Radioactivity dispersed in indoor environment is a consequence of exhalation of radioactive gas radon from soil, building materials, and rocks containing primordial radionuclide. The health risk for population from the radionuclides and radon exhalation rates of soils from different places in vicinity of Kurukshetra in Northern India is estimated. Radionuclides content and radon exhalation rate of the soil samples are measured using gamma and alpha spectroscopy, respectively. Various doses (absorbed gamma dose and annual effective dose) and associated index (Alpha, Gamma, External, and Internal Radiation Hazard Indices) with radionuclide contents present in soil samples are also estimated. Radiological hazards are calculated by two different approaches; one based on radionuclides content and emanation factor and other on the basis of exhalation rates and room dimensions. The results of radioactivity content and exhalation rates are found below the level recommended by United Nation Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). Alpha equivalent dose (HE) is also estimated as per the recommendations of UNSCEAR and found well below the safe limit. The study is helpful to determine the soil potential to exhale carcinogenic gas radon at the surface and also for radon and thoron mapping.