A Study of Factors Affecting in Increasing or Decreasing of Radon Levels in Buildings of Suwaylih Town

Abstract

This research aimed to study the factors affected in radon levels in buildings of Suwaylih town (altitude about 900 to 1300 above the sea level) as areference to Jordan. The study was started from august, 10, 2012 to October, 10, 2012. Suwaylih Town divided into six districts namely, Al-Kamaliah, Al-Rahmaniah, Al-Sharqy, Al-Fadielah, Maysaloon, Al-Bashaaer districts. About 780 Passive dosimeters containing highly pure CR -39 were distributed randomly in districts of Suwaylih town.The indoor dosimeters were collected after three months. The collected detectors were chemically etched using 30% KOH for 9 hours at 70 ± 0.1 °C. An optical microscope was used to measure the nuclear alpha track density on the detectors surfaces.The research results showed that radon concentration affected by many factors, for example, the average concentration in guest rooms was 83 ± 18 Bq.m -3 and 70 ± 14 Bq.m -3 in bed rooms, while it was 53 ± 10 Bq.m -3 in living rooms. Morever, the concentration was about 97 ± 15 Bq.m -3 in rooms without ventilation while the concentration was about 30 ± 10 Bq.m -3 at rooms ventilated more than 9 hours daily.The study also showed the concentration was relatively high 90 ± 18 Bq.m -3 in buildings made of stones while concentration was low 47 ± 12 Bq.m -3 in the buildings made from blocks. In addition, the concentration was different with increase in age of building, the average were 63 ± 15 Bq.m -3 , 51 ± 13 Bq.m -3 and 39 ± 11 Bq.m -3 in more than 25 years, between 10 -25 years and less than 10 years, respectively. In general the radon concentration in Suwaylih town was found to be about 62 ± 13 Bq.m -3 .