Journal of Applied Geochemistry

UGC CARE (Group 1)
  • Year: 2015
  • Volume: 17
  • Issue: 3

Temporal variation in Indoor air and soil-gas radon concentrations

  • Author:
  • P. Ravikumar, Deljo Davis, R. K. Somashekar, K. L. Prakash, K. Shivanna1
  • Total Page Count: 8
  • DOI:
  • Page Number: 296 to 303

Dept. of Environmental Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore

1Former Scientist, Isotope Applications Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai

Abstract

Airborne indoor radon activity ranged from 0.0 to 67.10 Bq/m3 with an average value of 20.71 Bq/m3 over a period of 48 hours, which was very less compared to the respective action level values of 148 and 100 Bq/m3 prescribed by EPA (1991) and WHO (2009). The radon progeny (PAEC) concentration varied from 0.0 to 7.25 mWL (average: 2.24 ± 2.11 mWL) while their resultant lifetime fatality risk varied from 0.0 x 10−4 to 0.90 x 10−4 (average: 0.28 x 10−4). The study area is categorized as low radon risk area (<10 kBq/m3) as the soil gas radon concentration varied from 7130 to 9590 Bq/m3 (viz., 7.13 to 9.59 KBq/m3).

Keywords

Radon, Indoor, Becquerel per cubic meter (Bq/m3), working level month (WLM), Lifetime fatality risk