The inhalation of radon decay products is the second most leading reasons for lung cancer after smoking. Building materials are an important source of indoor radon. This article describes the determination of the exhalation rate of radon from construction materials by the use of commercially available digital radon measuring device. Six types of construction materials were collected from the study area; these are cement, metal, sand, rock, clay brisk and gypsum. The measurements of effective radium content and radon concentration in those materials were investigated. The concentration was measured by alpha spectroscopy detection technique with Corentium digital radon detector. It was found that the overall average radon concentration in the construction materials varied from 58.46 Bq/m3 to 307.84 Bq/m3, which is above the recommended action level. The average effective radium content varies from 69.85 Bq/kg to 367.79 Bq/kg which is below the maximum permissible value of 370 Bq/kg as recommended by Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) but it is near to maximum, so it can pose significant threat to the population. The average annual effective inhalation dose varied from 0.53 mSv/yto 2.77 mSv/y. The mean excess lung cancer risk estimated by this work was found to range from 1.17% to 6.16% within average value of 2.92%. The average of Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR) is greater than with the estimated risk of 1.3% due to a radon exposure of 148 Bqm–3 which is the action level of Environmental protection agency (EPA). The mass exhalation rates of radon vary from 14.98 × 10−6 to 97.91 × 10−6 Bq.kg−1.d−1 with a mean value of 57.91×10−6 Bq.kg−1.d−1. The surface exhalation rates of radon have been found to vary from 23.85 × 10−5 to 155.91 ×10−5 Bq.kg−1.d−1 with a mean value of 91.46 ×10−5 Bq.kg−1.d−1. This indicates the contributions of construction materials in the indoor radon are very high.
| Published in | Radiation Science and Technology (Volume 3, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11 |
| Page(s) | 41-46 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Effective Radium Content, Radon Exhalation Rates, Inhalation dose, Life Fatality Risk, Corentium Radon Detector
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APA Style
Nigus Maregu Demewoz. (2017). Assessment of Radon Concentration within Construction Materials Used in Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia. Radiation Science and Technology, 3(5), 41-46. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11
ACS Style
Nigus Maregu Demewoz. Assessment of Radon Concentration within Construction Materials Used in Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia. Radiat. Sci. Technol. 2017, 3(5), 41-46. doi: 10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11
AMA Style
Nigus Maregu Demewoz. Assessment of Radon Concentration within Construction Materials Used in Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia. Radiat Sci Technol. 2017;3(5):41-46. doi: 10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11
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Download@article{10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11,
author = {Nigus Maregu Demewoz},
title = {Assessment of Radon Concentration within Construction Materials Used in Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia},
journal = {Radiation Science and Technology},
volume = {3},
number = {5},
pages = {41-46},
doi = {10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.rst.20170305.11},
abstract = {The inhalation of radon decay products is the second most leading reasons for lung cancer after smoking. Building materials are an important source of indoor radon. This article describes the determination of the exhalation rate of radon from construction materials by the use of commercially available digital radon measuring device. Six types of construction materials were collected from the study area; these are cement, metal, sand, rock, clay brisk and gypsum. The measurements of effective radium content and radon concentration in those materials were investigated. The concentration was measured by alpha spectroscopy detection technique with Corentium digital radon detector. It was found that the overall average radon concentration in the construction materials varied from 58.46 Bq/m3 to 307.84 Bq/m3, which is above the recommended action level. The average effective radium content varies from 69.85 Bq/kg to 367.79 Bq/kg which is below the maximum permissible value of 370 Bq/kg as recommended by Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) but it is near to maximum, so it can pose significant threat to the population. The average annual effective inhalation dose varied from 0.53 mSv/yto 2.77 mSv/y. The mean excess lung cancer risk estimated by this work was found to range from 1.17% to 6.16% within average value of 2.92%. The average of Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR) is greater than with the estimated risk of 1.3% due to a radon exposure of 148 Bqm–3 which is the action level of Environmental protection agency (EPA). The mass exhalation rates of radon vary from 14.98 × 10−6 to 97.91 × 10−6 Bq.kg−1.d−1 with a mean value of 57.91×10−6 Bq.kg−1.d−1. The surface exhalation rates of radon have been found to vary from 23.85 × 10−5 to 155.91 ×10−5 Bq.kg−1.d−1 with a mean value of 91.46 ×10−5 Bq.kg−1.d−1. This indicates the contributions of construction materials in the indoor radon are very high.},
year = {2017}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Assessment of Radon Concentration within Construction Materials Used in Wolaita Sodo, Ethiopia AU - Nigus Maregu Demewoz Y1 - 2017/10/10 PY - 2017 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11 DO - 10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11 T2 - Radiation Science and Technology JF - Radiation Science and Technology JO - Radiation Science and Technology SP - 41 EP - 46 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2575-5943 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.rst.20170305.11 AB - The inhalation of radon decay products is the second most leading reasons for lung cancer after smoking. Building materials are an important source of indoor radon. This article describes the determination of the exhalation rate of radon from construction materials by the use of commercially available digital radon measuring device. Six types of construction materials were collected from the study area; these are cement, metal, sand, rock, clay brisk and gypsum. The measurements of effective radium content and radon concentration in those materials were investigated. The concentration was measured by alpha spectroscopy detection technique with Corentium digital radon detector. It was found that the overall average radon concentration in the construction materials varied from 58.46 Bq/m3 to 307.84 Bq/m3, which is above the recommended action level. The average effective radium content varies from 69.85 Bq/kg to 367.79 Bq/kg which is below the maximum permissible value of 370 Bq/kg as recommended by Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) but it is near to maximum, so it can pose significant threat to the population. The average annual effective inhalation dose varied from 0.53 mSv/yto 2.77 mSv/y. The mean excess lung cancer risk estimated by this work was found to range from 1.17% to 6.16% within average value of 2.92%. The average of Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (ELCR) is greater than with the estimated risk of 1.3% due to a radon exposure of 148 Bqm–3 which is the action level of Environmental protection agency (EPA). The mass exhalation rates of radon vary from 14.98 × 10−6 to 97.91 × 10−6 Bq.kg−1.d−1 with a mean value of 57.91×10−6 Bq.kg−1.d−1. The surface exhalation rates of radon have been found to vary from 23.85 × 10−5 to 155.91 ×10−5 Bq.kg−1.d−1 with a mean value of 91.46 ×10−5 Bq.kg−1.d−1. This indicates the contributions of construction materials in the indoor radon are very high. VL - 3 IS - 5 ER -
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