Measurement of 226Ra concentration and radon exhalation rate in rock samples from Al-Qusair area using CR-39

Abstract

Both radon and radium concentrations, radon exhalation rate in terms of area and mass, as well as the annual effective doses were measured in rock samples in Al-Qusair area, Egypt. In the present work, the can technique, containing CR-39 solid-state detector, was used to estimate the radium concentration and radon exhalation rates from different studied samples. The results of the study have revealed that the values obtained for the studied samples are within the internationally accepted recommended values. Finally, it can be concluded, from the obtained results that these samples from Al-Qusair area may be used as safe sources in manufacturing the building materials.

Environmental Radioactivity Monitoring Using High Resolution Gamma-ray Spectrometer for Lake Manzala in Egypt

“…Therefore long radioactive half-lives, 238 U and 234 U isotopes are in secular equilibrium in all minerals and rocks greater than one million years old in a closed system or undisturbed minerals since 234 U is a daughter product of 238 U and the activity ratio (AR) of 234 U to 238 U is unity in the bulk of such materials. However, when such rocks, sediments and minerals have interacted with groundwater, the ratio may deviate from unity on either side; disequilibrium is the result depending on the geochemical conditions [5,7,[23][24][25]…”

“…Among the different isotopes of radon, focus is made on 222 Rn (with a half-life of 3.82 days), which decays into many short-lived isotopes. However, daughter progenies such as 218 Po and 214 Po are high alpha emitters [5][6][7][8][9]. Together with its daughter products, Radon is the highest contributor to human exposure to natural background radiation [1, 3,4,10,11].…”

Measurement of Radon (222Rn) Concentrations in the Basaltic Rocks of Yarmouk River, Jordan

“…The laboratory measurements of radon concentration are carried out on basalt powder by applying following procedure following different authors (El-Farrash et al, 2009;Abbas et al, 2020):…”

“…The structure and the analysis of the passive dosimeters are described in a previous work (alqadi et al, 2016). The Detectors were treated following the procedure proposed by Abbas et al (2020).…”

Evaluation of Natural Radioactivity and Risk Assessment of Radon in Surface Soils from Gold Mining Areas

“…The movement of radon is caused by a transport mechanism, which is dependent on geological conditions such as number fracturing or disturbance, transport is that radon dissolved in water and move with it, the process being called migration [11,12]. The radon exhalation rate is known by the rate at which radon escapes from the soil into the surrounding air [13,14]. The inhalation of radon and the short-lived daughter products to which it decays, is a major contributor to the total radiation dose to exposed subjects that may cause lung cancer.…”