“Deposition-flux to lung dose” – a new approach in radon inhalation dosimetry using wire-mesh capped direct radon progeny sensor

Abstract

Assigning indoor radon doses to populations based on the widely used, cumulative radon concentration monitoring techniques is beset with errors arising due to uncertain equilibrium factors and unattached fractions. Moreover, the dose conversion factor (DCF) of radon decay products may vary by a factor of ∼40 within the particle size range from ∼0.5 nm to tens of micrometers. An ideal detector should have a response, which closely mimics the strong dependence of the DCF on the particle size. In this context, we propose a new approach in which the doses are computed directly from the time integrated progeny deposition fluxes on a suitably tailored surrogate surface. The deposition on this wire-mesh capped detector system closely mimics the deposition rate in human respiratory tract. The detection unit consists of an optimally designed wire-mesh capped Direct Radon Progeny Sensor (DRPS) system. Of the different wire-mesh types, 100 mesh types were found to be suitable considering the fine and coarse fraction penetration efficiencies. The calibration factor was theoretically derived as 0.0077 {mSv (Tracks cm−2)−1}, for converting the measured atom flux in the 100-mesh capped DRPS system to inhalation dose attributed to radon progeny.