Drinking-water Contribution to Natural Background Radiation

Abstract

The average concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides in drinking water are estimated from recent measurements and are used to estimate the annual effective dose equivalent associated with drinking water due to the different radionuclides. The annual effective dose equivalents are determined from the annual intake of these radionuclides using dosimetric information based on ICRP Publication 30 dosimetric models and cohort analysis considering risk coefficients developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency using data from the report of the Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation Committee (BEIR III) of the National Academy of Sciences. The resulting contribution from drinking water sources to the annual effective dose equivalent is in the range of 0.002 to 0.05 mSv/y (0.2-5 mrem/yr) for those using community drinking water supplies (approximately 216 million people in the United States). The contribution to the annual effective dose equivalent from 222Rn dissolved in water is in the range of 0.8-30 mu Sv/y (0.08-3 mrem/yr) based on the inhalation pathway following the release of 222Rn from drinking water.

Radioactivity in drinking water: regulations, monitoring results and radiation protection issues

“…From the beginning of the '80s, wide monitoring campaigns for assessing the natural radioactivity in drinking waters have been run in United States [15][16][17][18]. Results have been summarized by J. Longtin [4].…”

Study of Indoor Radon, Thoron, Their Progeny Concentration and Radon Exhalation Rate in the Environs of Mohali, Punjab, Northern India

“…Radon in the atmosphere mainly comes from the continents and has a very little input from the oceans (Wang et al, 2014). There are many other natural radionuclides like 22 Na, 32 Be, which are major pollutants in the atmosphere and are dangerous to human being (Papastefanou, 2009a), but radon is more important as it contributes about half of the background radiation to which we are all exposed (Cothern and Lappenbusch, 1986). The primary sources of indoor radon are soils (Akerblom et al, 1984) and rocks source emanations, off-gassing of waterborne radon into a building, emanation from building materials, and entry of radon into a structure from outdoor air.…”

Childhood cancer mortality and radon concentration in drinking water in North Carolina

“…With agitation and heating, some fraction of the original radon in the water used in the home will diffuse into the air. It has been estimated that 10-15% of total radon in indoor air may typically be attributed directly to outgassing from tap water (Kahlos & Asikainen, 1980), and that 1-7% of all lung cancer deaths due to indoor radon are due to that same source (Cothern et al, 1986).…”