Measurements of summer radon and its progeny concentrations along with environmental gamma dose rates in Taiwan

Abstract

The concentrations of 222Rn (radon) and its progeny with surrounding environmental gamma-dose rates were measured simultaneously inside and outside of buildings at 10 locations around Taipei and Hualien in Taiwan. For summer radon in Taiwan, indoor concentrations were estimated to be about 20 Bq m −3 with about 90 nSv h −1 of environmental gamma, and outdoors, about 10 Bq m −3 with about 70 nSv h −1. The equilibrium factors were calculated to be 0.2–0.3 indoors and 0.3–0.4 outdoors. Indoor radon concentration had a weak positive correlation with gamma-dose rate. Since there is a possibility that high radon concentrations exist indoors during the cool season in Taiwan because of extremely low ventilation rates in the dwellings, a winter survey in January through February will be needed for future estimation of the annual effective dose.