Abstract
Outdoors, radon is quickly diluted to very low, not problematic concentrations but indoors, it can concentrate significantly. Places that are particularly exposed to an increased radon concentration from water sources are places where water is dispersed, e.g. bathrooms or areas in water treatment facilities. The aim of the paper is to present the calculation of radon escaping from water into the indoor area at home on the example of Mokre village. Mokre is supplied with water from an underground source containing radon 222 Rn in concentration of about 200 Bq/L. The obtained data has been compared with WHO recommendation (WHO, 2009) and literature review. Considering that 300 Bq·m-3 are equivalent to 10 mSv per year, which is equal to receiving approximately an annual full chest CT (computed tomography), the risk resulting from the emission of radon from tap water in Mokre has been assessed to be insignificant.
Highlights
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas which may be found in indoor environments of buildings
The concept of radon potential can be used as a basis for estimating indoor radon concentrations and equivalent dose of ionizing radiation
Where: annual effective dose equivalent of radiation (ADE) - annual effective dose equivalent [mSv]; S Rw – radon Rn−222 concentration [Bq/L]; F - equivalent equilibrium concentration (EEC) for radon inside buildings EDE - exposure to radon in air, with radon concentration of 1 Bq per 1 m3 of air, during the time of 1 hour, by an adult person N - namber of days in a year; T – exposition time per day [h]
Summary
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas which may be found in indoor environments of buildings. Indoors, when water is exposed to air, radon is released. One should be aware that where high radon concentrations are identified in indoor air, this is nearly always due to ingress of radon from the soil rather than degassing from the drinking-water supply. In many countries of Europe, standards of reference levels for radon concentration in domestic environments have been introduced. The European Commission suggests a concentration reference level of 100 Bq/L for radon in drinking water but if the activity is over 1,000 Bq/L remedial measures should be taken. One of water intakes where radon concentration is higher from the concentration level recommended in the EU directive is Mokre intake in Głubczyce district. The permitted level of 100 Bq/l [12] has been exceeded by almost 100%
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