Abstract
Radon and its progeny are major contributors that deteriorate the indoor air quality and are the major source of radiation dose received by general population of the world. Keeping this in mind the environmental monitoring of radon-thoron and their progeny in dwellings of district Mohali, Punjab, India has been carried out. The radon-thoron twin dosimeter cups were used for the study. The study of the exhalation rate of the soil samples of Kharar, Kurali and Derabassi of the district Mohali and the sand samples available from the study area has also been carried out for the comparison purpose using can echnique. The aim of the study is the possible health risk assessment in the dwellings of this particular region for which data is not available in literature. The indoor radon concentration varied from 22.8 ± 0.7 Bq/m3 to 45.0 ± 2.2 Bq/m3 with an average of 33.7 Bq/m3 while the thoron concentration in the same dwellings varied from 1.7 ± 0.1 Bq/m3 to 27.6 ± 1.2 Bq/m3 with an average of 12.8 Bq/m3. Annual dose received by the inhabitants in the dwellings under study varied from 0.64 to 1.64 mSv with an average of 1.19 mSv. The radon mass and surface exhalation rates of the soil samples varied from 0.32 to 2.6 mBq/kg/h with an average of 1.36 ± 0.2 mBq/kg/h and from 7.3 to 58.2 mBq/m2/h with an average of 28.3 ± 5.1 mBq/m2/h respectively.
Highlights
Indoor air quality is the most important issue days because most individuals spend 90% of their time indoors
The indoor radon concentration varied from 22.8 ± 0.7 Bq/m3 to 45.0 ± 2.2 Bq/m3 with an average of 33.7 Bq/m3 while the thoron concentration in the same dwellings varied from 1.7 ± 0.1 Bq/m3 to 27.6 ± 1.2 Bq/m3 with an average of 12.8 Bq/m3
Annual dose received by the inhabitants in the dwellings under study varied from 0.64 to 1.64 mSv with an average of 1.19 mSv
Summary
Indoor air quality is the most important issue days because most individuals spend 90% of their time indoors. There are many pollutants that can deteriorate indoor air quality radon is a major pollutant for this and is an important global problem of radiation hygiene. Radon is one of decay product of long decay chain of uranium, which is ubiquitous in nature and can be found in trace amount in most rock and soil. Most rock and soil contain thorium and radium. The decay of radium leads to radon (222Rn). Radon migrates away from radium in large amount. There are many other natural radionuclides like 22Na, 32P, 33P, 210Pb and 7Be, which are major pollutants in the atmosphere and are dangerous to human being (Papastefanou, 2009a), but radon is more important as it contributes about half of the background
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