CONTRIBUTION OF THORON AND PROGENY TOWARDS INHALATION DOSE IN A THORIUM ABUNDANT BEACH ENVIRONMENT

In an environment having thorium rich soil the activity concentration of thoron in soil gas and ground-level outside air is comparable to that to radon. Recent reports indicate that in terms of the energy of the alpha particle decays of thoron's progeny, its concentration in indoor air is signi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiation protection dosimetry 2018-03, Vol.178 (4), p.405-413
Main Authors: Visnuprasad, A K, Jaikrishnan, G, Sahoo, B K, Pereira, C E, Jojo, P J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis
Background Radiation
Bathing Beaches
Construction Materials
Humans
India
Inhalation Exposure - analysis
Radiation Monitoring - methods
Radon Daughters - analysis
Thorium - analysis
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Summary:In an environment having thorium rich soil the activity concentration of thoron in soil gas and ground-level outside air is comparable to that to radon. Recent reports indicate that in terms of the energy of the alpha particle decays of thoron's progeny, its concentration in indoor air is significant, typically about half that due to radon progeny. We made a detailed radiometric profiling of inhalation dose to the population of the high background radiation area in the west southern coastal region of India. Here we report the results obtained from the long-term time integrated passive measurements of radon, thoron and their progeny concentrations in the high background radiation areas of Chavara and Neendakara hamlets of Kollam district. The equilibrium factors of radon and thoron with their progeny were determined for the region and was consistent with a previous study. The estimated value of total annual inhalation dose in the region ranged from 0.4 ± 0.06 to 3.7 ± 0.6 mSv y-1. The annual effective dose due to thoron and thoron progeny contributes ~35% to the total inhalation dose which means that thoron and its progeny is significant in assessing the radiation dose to the public.
ISSN:0144-8420
1742-3406
DOI:10.1093/rpd/ncx126