Radon in soil and its concentration in the atmosphere around Mysore city, India

Abstract

Radon concentration in soil-gas and in the atmospheric air has been studied around Mysore city (12°N and 76°E) using Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors. The radon in soil-gas is found to be higher at a depth of 1 m than at a depth of 0.5 m from the ground surface. The higher radon concentration in soil was observed near Chamundi Hills and Karigatta village with average values of 5.94 kBq.m -3 and 5.32 kBq.m -3 at 1 m depth from the ground surface. Seasonal variations in radon in soil gas shows that, the concentration is lower in summer with an average value of 0.60 kBq.m -3 and higher in monsoon season with an average value of 4.70 kBq.m -3 . Estimation of 226 Ra in soil at these locations is also made using HPGe detector. The activity of 226 Ra, varies from 4.82 to 74.23 Bq.kg -1 with an average value of 32.11 Bq.kg -1 . Radon concentrations in soil-gas shows good correlation with the activity of 226 Ra in soil with a correlation coefficient of 0.76

Estimates of the dose of radon and its progeny inhaled inside buildings

“…The concentration of radon progeny and monthly level of exposure were considerably less than those reported by Upadhyay et al (2007), Örgün et al (2008), Shashikumar et al (2009), Abd-Elzaher (2012 and Oni et al (2012Oni et al ( ), etc. Örgün et al (2008 records PAEC values of 1.6 to 22.5 mWL and monthly exposure values of 0.1 to 0.9 WLM y −1 , while Shashikumar et al, (2009) record concentrations of radon progeny varying from 0.09 mWL to 3.92 mWL. Abd-Elzahfer (2012) reports that the annual exposure of occupants in all areas he studied varied from 0.56 mJ h m −3 (0.15 WLM) in the region of Elmandara to 0.82 mJ h m −3 (0.23 WLM) in the region of Kingmaryut.…”

Studies on radon concentration in aqueous samples at Mysore city, India

“…Due to this reason, the highest radon concentrations in bore well water samples have been observed. [6,16,17] The study area contains metabasalt-amygdaloidal, pillowed and meta-ultramafites means Dharwar super group granites and pink granite of Chamundi hill, which have an average uranium content of 3.0 ppm. [12,18] These granites are rich in radium and potassium radioactive elements.…”

“…The thickness of the weathered zone varies between 3 m and 5 m over much of the Mysore region. [6,7] The drinking water source for most of western and northern part of the city is from the KRS dam through tap water after proper water treatment and large part of the Southern and Eastern region of the city from the Kabini river. Bore well water is supplied through the tap for the region where the river water is not supplied.…”

Alpha Particles Concentrations from Soil Samples of Al-Najaf/ Iraq

“…The mechanism of emanation radon in the soil may be migrated through diffusion and conversion through the cracks in rocks, the pore spaces in solid and the weak zones such as shear, faults thrust, etc. (Shashikumar et al 2009, Archer et al 1973. The amount of radon that escapes from the earth depends mainly up on the amount of 226 Ra and 232 Th, in the ground along with other factors such as the type of soil cover (Sevc et al 1976, UNSCEAR 1994).…”