222Rn Activity Concentration Measurement and its Radiological Risks in the Environment of Barserin Village, Erbil-Iraq

Abstract

In the present study, 222 Rn activity concentrations were measured in Barserin village environment including (indoor rooms, building materials, soil and drinking water samples). The measurements were carried out using a couple of passive and active methods. The obtained results of the average indoor radon concentration in 28 dwelling rooms (living room+ kitchen) were found to be (91±09) Bq.m -3 , except in houses H3 and H12, which had radon activity concentrations above the limited value declared by Environmental Protection Agency 148Bq.m -3 . Living rooms recorded higher value of radon activity concentrations than kitchens by a factor of 1.36. Average radon activity concentrations emanated from soil and building material samples from the same region were found to be (57±12 and 45±08) Bq.m -3 , respectively. The higher values of radon activity concentrations were reported for black shale rock (127±08) Bq.m -3 and soil sample S6 (115±20) Bq.m -3 . For drinking water, it was found that 75% of samples had radon activity concentrations more than the maximum contaminant level 11.1Bq.l -1 proposed by Environmental Protection Agency. Finally, the present results of average annual effective doses for lung reported due to radon in indoor rooms were quite higher than the worldwide annual effective dose value of 1.2 mSv.y -1 , suggested by ICRP, while it was within the range of the action level of (3-10) mSv.Y -1 recommended by UNSCEAR. Simultaneously with these results, 75% of drinking water samples had their annual effective doses exceeding the annual effective dose limit of 0.1 mSv.y -1 suggested by WHO.