Investigation of Radon in Groundwater and the Corresponding Human-Health Risk Assessment in Northeastern Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Radon is one of the most common human exposures as a natural radiation source and can cause lung, colon, and stomach cancer. In this study, groundwater from different wells was collected from the northeastern part of Saudi Arabia. The radon concentration was estimated using an electronic portable radon detector RAD7 with a big-bottle system. The annual effective dose of radon exposure by the ingestion and inhalation of water is calculated using the radon concentration for different age groups to assess the health risk of radon exposure. The calculated annual effective doses are then compared with the international risk limit standard as international organizations direct. The estimated radon concentration for groundwater samples in the searched area was between 0.03 and 3.20 Bq/L, with an average value of 1.16 Bq/L. These estimated values are far below the safety limit set by international organizations. The annual effective dose of radon exposure for infants, children and adults ranged from 0.05 to 16.24 μSv/y, with a mean value of 5.89 μSv/y. The health risk assessed by radon exposure for infants, children and adults was found to be in the safe limit recommended by international organizations.

Radon Levels and Risk Assessment due to its Ingestion and Inhalation from Groundwater of Lapai, North-Central Nigeria

“…As expected, the calculated annual effective doses for infants were relatively higher than those for children and adults. This is consistent with the observations of (Mamun & Alazmi, 2022). The obtained results showed a significant difference between the doses estimated for infants and children age groups.…”

“…The values obtained for the present study's annual effective dose due to inhalation were approximately the same as those of the annual effective dose due to adult ingestion. This finding is consistent with the observations of Mamun & Alazmi, 2022.. The obtained values were below the recommended limit of 100 μSva -1 of the WHO (WHO, 2017).…”

“…where 𝐴𝐸𝐷i𝑛g is the annual committed dose (in unit μSvy -1 ), and 𝐶𝑅𝑛 is the measured radon concentration of the water samples in unit Becquerel per litre (BqL -1 ), Wi𝑛g is the water consumption (intake) per year in the unit (La -1 ) for different age groups (see Table 2). And, 𝐹 is the dose conversion factor of Radon, which is 23, 5, and 3.5 nSvBq -1 for infants, children, and adults, respectively (Mamun & Alazmi, 2022).…”

“…where Raw is the air-to-water radon concentration ratio (10 -4 ), O is the average indoor occupancy time per human (7000 ha -1 ), 𝐹𝑒𝑞is the equilibrium factor between Radon and its decay products (0.4), and DCF is the dose conversion factor for radon exposure (9.0 ×10 -9 Sv/Bqhm -3 ) (Mamun & Alazmi, 2022).…”

Assessment of Radiation Hazard from External and Internal Exposures at Adham and Surroundings in KSA

“…Recently, Al Mamun et al investigated radon in groundwater and the associated health risk in northern Saudi Arabia. They concluded that the assessed risk due to radon exposure was in the safe limit set internationally (Mamun et al, 2022). Al-Ghamdi performed radioactivity measurements in twenty groundwater in Al-Baha region of Saudi Arabia.…”