Laboratory of Nuclear, Atomic, Molecular, Mechanical and Energetic Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Chouaïb Doukkali University (UCD), El Jadida, 24000, Morocco.
Laboratory of Nuclear, Atomic, Molecular, Mechanical and Energetic Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Chouaïb Doukkali University (UCD), El Jadida, 24000, Morocco.
Environ Pollut. 2024 Oct 1;358:124518. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124518. Epub 2024 Jul 9.
Exposure to ionizing radiation inside houses, especially radionuclides of radon and its progeny, poses serious health risks that can be exacerbated when inhaled as a result of interaction with human lung tissue. Also, air ionization is mainly due to these radionuclides. Therefore, accurate measurements of radon activity concentrations and its short-lived progeny are required to assess dose and environmental pollution and estimate ionization rates in indoor environments. For this purpose, we employed a previously tested and approved reliable method, following the three-count procedure. This method is based on airborne radon progeny sampling on polycarbonate membrane filters and alpha counting using a passive α-dosimetry technique with CR-39 detectors. The method also relies on a PC-based software we developed for solving mathematical equations and calculating all the necessary physical quantities. In this study, the concentrations of radon and individual short-lived radon progeny were measured in 20 houses in Sana'a, Yemen. Measurement conditions and meteorological variables were considered. The average activity concentrations of 222Rn, Equilibrium-Equivalent Concentration (EEC), 218Po, 214 Pb, and 214Po were 73.1 ± 6.0, 29.2 ± 2.4, 44.4 ± 3.6, 30.5 ± 2.5, and 23.2 ± 1.9 Bq.m-3, respectively. The calculated average unattached fractions f1(218Po), f2(214 Pb), and fp were found to be 0.24, 0.04, and 0.07 % respectively. The annual average values of ion-pair production rate caused by 222Rn and their progeny and air ion concentration, were 27.25 ions.cm-3s-1 and 1829 ions.cm-3 respectively. The annual effective dose was estimated to be 1.93 ± 0.16 mSv.y-1, well lower than the recommended 10 mSv.y-1.
室内的电离辐射暴露，特别是氡及其子体的放射性核素，会对健康造成严重威胁，当它们与人体肺部组织相互作用时，会被吸入体内，从而使危害加剧。此外，空气电离主要归因于这些放射性核素。因此，需要准确测量氡活度浓度及其短寿命子体，以评估剂量和环境污染，并估算室内环境中的电离率。为此，我们采用了一种经过前期测试和验证的可靠方法，遵循三计数程序。该方法基于聚碳酸酯膜滤器上空气中氡子体的采样，以及使用 CR-39 探测器的被动 α-剂量测量技术进行的 α 计数。该方法还依赖于我们开发的基于 PC 的软件，用于解决数学方程并计算所有必要的物理量。在这项研究中，我们在也门萨那的 20 所房屋中测量了氡和个别短寿命氡子体的浓度。考虑了测量条件和气象变量。222Rn、平衡等效浓度（EEC）、218Po、214Pb 和 214Po 的平均活度浓度分别为 73.1±6.0、29.2±2.4、44.4±3.6、30.5±2.5 和 23.2±1.9 Bq·m-3。计算得出的 218Po 的未结合分数 f1（218Po）、214Pb 的 f2（214Pb）和 fp 分别为 0.24%、0.04%和 0.07%。由 222Rn 和其子体引起的离子对产生率以及空气离子浓度的年平均值分别为 27.25 离子·cm-3·s-1 和 1829 离子·cm-3。估算的年有效剂量为 1.93±0.16 mSv·y-1，远低于建议的 10 mSv·y-1。
