Measurements of radon, thoron and their progeny concentrations using twin cup dosimeter for indoor Al-Madaan city – Baghdad – Iraq

Abstract

In this study, the activity concentrations of indoor radon, thoron
and their progeny have been measured in air for 61 different
locations of Al-Maddan city using twin cup dosimeter. Furthermore,
some useful parameters concerning the health hazards have been
estimated; working level month (WLM), annual effective dose (Eff),
and excess lung cancer per million person per year (ELC).The results
show that the values of radon gas levels in the investigated districts
varied from 56.28 to 194.43Bq/m3with an overall average value
132.96Bq/m3, while 0.313 to 1.085 for WLM with an overall average
0.740, respectively. The value of Eff and ELC have been found to
vary from 1.420 to 4.918 mSv/y with an overall average value
3.354mSv/y, and 852 to 2951 with an overall average value 2013,
respectively. For thoron gas only, the results showed that the thoron
activity concentration varied from 15.05 to 172.40 Bq/m3 with an
overall average 76.48 Bq/m3, and 0.021to 0.240for WLM with an
overall average 0.106, respectively. The values of Eff and ELC have
been found to vary from 0.256 to 2.94 mSv/y with an overall
average1.30 mSv/y and from 57 to 652 with an overall average of
298, respectively. The concentration of radon progeny varied from
59.44 to 301.39 Bq/m3 with an overall average 157.62 Bq/m3. The
results illustrated that there is a large variation in the values of the
measured concentrations. This is due to the wide variation in the
construction of the houses in Al-Madaan city. However, all
investigated locations have radon concentration below the action
level (200-300Bq/m3) that recommended byICRP. Therefore, there is
no health hazard of radon in the region of Al-Madaan city where
measurements have been performed.