Quantification of an alpha flux based radiological dose from seasonal exposure to 222Rn, 220Rn and their different EEC species

• Published in: Scientific reports 2019-02, Vol.9 (1), p.2515-2515, Article 2515
• Main Authors: Bangotra, Pargin, Mehra, Rohit, Jakhu, Rajan, Pandit, Pragya, Prasad, Mukesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/499; 704/172/4081; Aerosols; Dosimetry; Epidemiology; Equilibrium; Geology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lungs; multidisciplinary; Offspring; Radiation; Radiation protection; Radon; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Seasonal variations; Summer; Thoron; Wind; Winter
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38871-6

This study summarizes the seasonal experimental data on the activity concentrations of indoor 222 Rn (Radon), 220 Rn (Thoron) and their progeny in Mansa and Muktsar districts of Punjab (India) using LR-115 solid state nuclear track detector based time integrated pin-hole cup dosimeters and deposition based progeny sensors for the assessment of radiological dose. The indoor 222 Rn concentration was observed higher in the rainy and winter seasons while 220 Rn concentration was observed higher in the winter season. However, Equilibrium Equivalent Concentrations (EECs) of 222 Rn and 220 Rn exhibited distinct seasonal behaviour unlike their parent nuclides. The average equilibrium factors for 222 Rn (F Rn ) and 220 Rn (F Tn ) were found 0.47 ± 0.1 and 0.05 ± 0.01, respectively. The annual arithmetic means of unattached fractions of 222 Rn ( f p R n ) and 220 Rn ( f p T n ) were found to be 0.09 ± 0.02 and 0.10 ± 0.02, respectively. The attachment rate ( X Rn ) and attachment rate coefficients ( β ) of 222 Rn progeny were also calculated to understand the proper behaviour of progeny species in the region. A new alpha flux based technique has been proposed and used for the assessment of absorbed dose rate and annual effective dose rate for radiation protection purpose.