Assessment of radon in traditional building materials using polymeric nuclear track detector

Abstract

Natural uranium deposits decay into radon gas, a radioactive element that is produced spontaneously. It is a radioactive gas that adversely affects the human population because it can be ingested and inhaled internally, contaminating living tissue, especially DNA, through the ionizing process that increases free radical bodies and increases the risk of cancer. The present study is carried out to determine the radon concentration for some traditional building materials in Egypt by using the nuclear track detector (CR-39). The values of radon concentrations measured by CR-39 ranged from 40.5 ± 3 to 593.2 ± 13 with an average value of 180 ± 6 (Bqm−3). The average values of both surface and mass exhalation rates are 6.3E-04 (Bqm−2h−1) and 7.01E-06 (Bqkg−1h−1) respectively. Pearson’s correlation analysis shows a direct and great correlation between 222Rn, and all variables indexed particularly the annual effective dose with significance at 0.01. The current study helps to create baseline data to assess any anomalies in the level of background radioactivity at Egyptian houses. In addition to applying radiation protection strategies for public and occupational regarding the permissible and recommendation limits by ICRP, and IAEA.