Indoor Radon Concentration and Risk Assessment in 27 Districts of a Public Healthcare Company in Naples, South Italy

Abstract

Radon is a major source of ionizing radiation exposure for the general population. It is known that exposure to radon is a risk factor for the onset of lung cancer. In this study, the results of a radon survey conducted in all districts of a Public Healthcare in Italy, are reported. Measurements of indoor radon were performed using nuclear track detectors, CR-39. The entire survey was conducted according to a well-established quality assurance program. The annual effective dose and excess lifetime cancer risk were also calculated. Results show that the radon concentrations varied from 7 ± 1 Bq/m3 and 5148 ± 772 Bq/m3, with a geometric mean of 67 Bq/m3 and geometric standard deviation of 2.5. The annual effective dose to workers was found to be 1.6 mSv/y and comparable with the worldwide average. In Italy, following the transposition of the European Directive 59/2013, great attention was paid to the radon risk in workplaces. The interest of the workers of the monitored sites was very high and this, certainly contributed to the high return rate of the detectors after exposure and therefore, to the presence of few missing data. Although it was not possible to study the factors affecting radon concentrations, certainly the main advantage of this study is that it was the first in which an entire public health company was monitored in regards to all the premises on the underground and ground floor.

Relationships among Indoor Radon, Earthquake Magnitude Data and Lung Cancer Risks in a Residential Building of an Apulian Town (Southern Italy)

“…This result is consistent with the results of other studies [70][71][72][73][74][75]. The data validation showed a very high coefficient of variation for the data related to the Locorotondo residential building, especially for the last months of 2020, and the overall CV was high.…”

Impacts of exposure to air pollution, radon and climate drivers on the COVID-19 pandemic in Bucharest, Romania: A time series study

“…Most of its long-lived progeny attach to aerosol particles in the accumulation mode (0.1–1 μm) with a average aerodynamic diameter of 555 nm ( Grundel and Porstendörfer, 2004 ; Zoran et al, 2015 ), and after inhalation and deposition, radon progeny can continue to decay and produce high α-radiation exposure to the lung. Several scientific papers pointed out that short-term or long-term inhaled particulate matter containing radon progeny in both outdoor and indoor spaces may be associated with lung inflammation or neuroinflammation ( Asadi et al, 2020 ; Seposo et al, 2020 ; Blomberg et al, 2019 ; Keith et al, 2012 ; Seltenrich, 2019 ; Hosoda et al, 2021 ; Loffredo et al, 2021 ; Sugiyama et al, 2020 ), which in addition to SARS-COV-2 pathogens attached to aerosols, can lead to severe medical consequences, and contribute to increased COVID-19 mortality ( Macias-Verde et al, 2021 ; Maya et al, 2020 ). Changes in the air pollution and climate variables due to urbanization affect urban environmental health, and frequently increase the risk/hazard of viral infections probability ( Shahbaz et al, 2021 ; Domingo et al, 2020 ; Rebuli et al, 2021 ; Chong et al, 2022 ).…”

Radon Hazard in Central Italy: Comparison among Areas with Different Geogenic Radon Potential

“…In Italy, several surveys have been conducted to determine the IRC in dwellings, whereas surveys in workplaces are sparse and generally limited to particular places and/or activities, such as schools, quarries and thermal spas. The data of inhalation doses are even more rare [ 72 , 73 , 74 ], even if the protection of workers against ionizing radiation exposure was regulated by the European Directive 96/29/EURATOM, Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM and its transposition into Decreto Legislativo 101.…”