A simple method employing a pair of pancake-style Geiger-Mueller (GM) counters for quantitative measurement of radon activity concentration (activity per unit volume) is described and demonstrated. The use of two GM counters, together with the basic theory derived in this paper, permit the detection of alpha particles from decay of 222 Rn and progeny ( 218 Po , 214 Po ) and the conversion of th...

The average indoor radon concentration in Finnish flats is 80 Bq/m3. Typically walls have been made using concrete elements. Building materials are the dominant source of indoor radon. However, in the flats of the lowest floor, with a floor slab in direct ground contact, the main source of radon is often the inflow of radon bearing soil air. The number of these ground contact flats is less than...

The radon chamber at Bowser-Morner was designed to ensure that the concentration of radon throughout the chamber is uniform. Nevertheless, it is important to demonstrate this uniformity periodically with measurements. To that end, 36 continuous radon monitors were simultaneously deployed in the chamber in a statistically balanced pattern and were exposed for a period of 48 hours. The resulting ...

INTRODUCTION The Rn(radon) family is the most significant source of exposure to natural radiation, causing about one-half of the public effective dose. A number of international organizations, including UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation) and ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection) have officially reported this fact since the 1980’...

background: radon is an odourless, colourless and tasteless gas and it is the first cause of lung cancer among non- smokers. the assessment of the level of radium in building materials helps in understanding the radiological implications. it has been observed that everyone has some levels of exposure to them. therefore measurement of radium and radon in the soil samples are important from publi...

Radon has been identified as the second leading cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoking. (222)Rn (radon gas) and (220)Rn (thoron gas) are the most common isotopes of radon. In order to assess thoron contribution to indoor radon and thoron exposure, a survey of residential radon and thoron concentrations was initiated in 2012 with ∼4000 homes in the 33 census metropolitan areas of Canada. The...

The lung dose derived from radon is not attributed to the radon gas itself, but instead to its short-lived progeny. However, in many epidemiological studies as well as in case control studies of the radon risk, the excess number of cancers are related to the radon gas exposure, and not to the radon progeny exposure. A justification for such an approach has resorted to the assumption that there ...

Radon is likely the second most common cause of lung cancer after smoking. We estimated the lung cancer risk due to radon using common risk models. Based on national radon survey data, we estimated the population-attributable fraction (PAF) and the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to radon. The exposure-age duration (EAD) and exposure-age concentration (EAC) models were used. The regio...

The paper is aimed at different measuring techniques and methods practically used for a classification of buildings in the context of radiation protection requirements. Specific experimental and theoretical diagnostic procedures designed for identification and quantification of indoor radon entry characteristics are proposed and discussed in detail (continuous simultaneous radon concentration m...