Abstract
The adverse human health effects due to ionizing radiation are well known. Radon is the major source of background radiation among those that are of natural origin. It contributes about 55% of the natural radiation dose to humans. It is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless radioactive noble gas that comes from the natural radioactive decay series of uranium. Radon can be found everywhere in the atmosphere and become attached to aerosols in the air. The aerosols carrying radon and its progeny can be inhaled and deposited in different regions of the human respiratory tract. The deposited radioactive aerosols continue to decay and exposing the lung to ionizing radiation can destroy sensitive cells in the lung, causing a mutation that turns to be cancerous. Different countries and international and national organizations put their action levels to reduce radon lung cancer risk. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends 148 Bq/m3 as the action level. On the other hand, International Commission for Radiation Protection (ICRP) recommends 200 Bq/m3 as the action level. The main objective of this review is to focus on how radon is established as a health hazard, ways of radon detection and measurements, methods of reducing and controlling high indoor radon concentration, and what are the recommended international action levels of radon concentrations. It mainly focuses on the health perspective of radon studies because it is now a crucial and hot issue in the world. In most developing countries like our country Ethiopia, radon studies are not well investigated.
Highlights
International Commission for Radiation Protection (ICRP) recommends 200 Bq/m3 as the action level. e main objective of this review is to focus on how radon is established as a health hazard, ways of radon detection and measurements, methods of reducing and controlling high indoor radon concentration, and what are the recommended international action levels of radon concentrations
While Becquerel was investigating the possibility that fluorescent materials emit X-rays when stimulated by light, he discovered the radioactivity of uranium in 1896 before the sensitive nuclear investigations were started in 1899
Our world is full of radioactivity from many sources and living things have been exposed to natural radiation since the existence of life in the universe
Summary
E adverse human health effects due to ionizing radiation are well known. Radon is the major source of background radiation among those that are of natural origin. Radon is a radioactive gas that comes from the natural radioactive decay series of uranium in soil, rock, building materials, groundwater, and mining areas. Depending on the aerosol concentration of the surrounding environment, the electrostatic charge of the radon progeny and humidity of the surrounding environment about 80% of the decay products will be attached to the aerosols in the air that we breathe in It can be inhaled and emit radiation that bombards sensitive tissues in the lung causing DNA damage [7]. E soil gas emanations from soils before decaying, off-gassing of waterborne 222Rn into indoor air, building materials, and outdoor air are the major sources of radon in homes. Australia Belgium Canada Czech Republic Denmark Finland France Germany Greece Ireland Italy Portugal Mexico Netherlands Spain United Kingdom USA Switzerland Republic of Korea Japan ∗Not available at the moment
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