Assessment of Annual Effective Dose from the Indoor Radon in Bathinda District of Punjab in India

• Main Author: Amit Arora, Rohit Mehra, Rajeev Kumar Garg and Anand K. Tyagi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Technoscience Publications 2019-12-01
• Series: Nature Environment and Pollution Technology
• Online Access: http://neptjournal.com/upload-images/NL-72-49-(47)B-3626.pdf

Carrying out of indoor radon studies have been done in the 50 dwellings of Bathinda district (Punjab), India using LR-115 type II cellulose nitrate films in the bare mode. The films were exposed into four consecutive trimesters, i.e. from March 2010 to February 2011. The work has been undertaken for health risk assessment. The calibration constant of 1 track cm-2day-1 equal to 50 Bqm-3 (Becquerel/m3) was used. In the present study average radon values vary from 83.15 (BTD-7) to 124.35 (BTD-8) Bqm-3 in different villages, which are higher than the word average value of 40 Bqm-3. The inhabitants of the area of study receive average annual radiation dose varying from 1.41 (BTD-7) - 2.12 (BTD-8) mSv (millisievert). The effective dose is found to be less than lower limit of the recommended action level (3-10 mSv). The value of radon for the first floor portion of the same dwelling is lower in comparison to the ground floor. The values in the cemented floors are lower than in the dwellings with the un-cemented floors. The indoor radon values are more in very poorly ventilated dwellings in comparison to the very well-ventilated dwellings.