Measurement and analysis of 222RN in the commonly used building construction materials

Abstract

Humans are constantly exposed to ionizing radiation, which is naturally occurring in the earth's crust. On the surface of the earth, the composition of radionuclides varies from place to place depending on the geological condition. Radon is a radioactive inert gas that emits radiation, contributing a large portion of the amount of radiation received by humans on earth. For radon studies, commonly used building material and soil samples are collected such as rocks, soil, sand and various types of cement etc from the local market, construction site and hardware stores. The concentration of 222Rn and mass exhalation rate was studied in the samples of building materials used in the province of Pune District, Maharashtra, India. In the present study active device AQTEK Smart RnDuo was used to measure the radon concentration and mass exhalation rate for the building construction material. In the current study, for soil samples shows radon concentration varies from 279±22Bq/m3 to 457±23Bq /m3 for with a mean value 342±22 Bq/m3, radon mass extraction rate varied from 9.64±0.54 mBq/Kg/hr to 18.84±1.5mBq/Kg/hr with mean value 13.5±1.04 mBq/Kg/hr.