Radon Levels in Dwellings of New Mirpur Azad Kashmir, Sub-Himalayas, Pakistan

Abstract

Radon concentrations were measured in kucha, semikucha and pucka houses located on the sedimentary rocks of Early Pleistocene-Pliocene Soan Formation, Pleistocene Mirpur conglomerate and recent deposits. The radon concentration was measured using CN 85 nuclear tracks etch detectors in box type dosimeters installed in the bedrooms and kitchens of the houses. It was found to vary from 14 AE 7 Bqm À3 to 258 AE 28 Bqm À3 with an average of 105 AE 17 Bqm À3 . The average radon concentration in the kucha, semi-kucha and pucka houses was 78 AE 15 Bqm À3 , 108 AE 18 Bqm À3 and 108 AE 18 Bqm À3 respectively. The increase in radon concentration from kucha to pucka houses was attributed to the type of house, differing humidity related to the Mangla Dam, temperature, bed rock geology, structures (joints, fractures and faults), aggregates and uraniumbearing sand. This study shows that the average radon level is within the accepted safe health limit (200 Bqm

Measurement of radon concentration levels in Pakistan: An overview

“…49 The seasonal correction factor (SCF) of indoor radon for these six districts was also calculated. In another study in 2008, indoor radon concentrations were measured in Mirpur through CN-85 box-type dosimeters by Iqbal et al 50 and in older and newly built houses in Muzaffarabad city through CN-85 box-type dosimeters by Rafique et al in 2009. 51 Furthermore in 2010, 80 houses were investigated for indoor radon concentrations by Rafique et al, in District Poonch 52 while Iqbal et al 53 measured indoor radon concentrations in Dhirkot using SSNTDs.…”

Indoor radon concentration: impact of geology in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake-affected Bagh area, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

“…The local pucka, semi-pucka and kucha houses terminology was used during this investigation Dosimètre de type boîte constitué de 2 détecteurs CN-85 utilisé pour la mesure du radon dans les habitations de la région de Bagh, Azard Jammu et Cachemire, Pakistan. (Iqbal et al, 2008(Iqbal et al, , 2010. The dwellings built of concrete beam and pillar structures, concrete blocks, bricks and sandstone with external and internal cement plaster with roofs and floors of concrete are known as pucka houses.…”

“…The rooms under investigation were on the ground floor. The dosimeters, after retrieval, were brought to the laboratory and CN 85 detectors were etched chemically with 6.25 N NaOH and scanned in the laboratory using an optical microscope at 400 × magnification for the determination of track density.The recorded track density was converted into Bq·m -3 by using the calibration factor for CN-85 detectors in box-type dosimeters as 0.0092 tracks cm -2 h -1 equal to 1 Bq·m -3 of 222 Rn (Tufail and Ahmad, 1992;Akram et al, 2005;Iqbal et al, 2008). General information about building material and year of construction was also recorded.…”

“…Various authors have attempted to correlate radon concentration with geological parameters Ramola et al, 2005;Sundal et al, 2005). Radon concentrations in the dwellings of Bagh and its surrounding areas were measured using the passive integrating solid state nuclear track detector technique (Fleischer et al, 1975;Akram et al, 2005;Iqbal et al, 2008). The Muzaffarabad Fault passes through the Bagh area, which was badly affected by the large Kashmir earthquake of October 8th 2005, of a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale.…”

Indoor radon concentration levels, gamma dose rates and impact of geology – A case study in Kotli, State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, sub-Himalayas, in Pakistan

“…Track density was measured using a Zeiss optical microscope at 400x magnification. The track density was then converted into radon concentration (Bq.m -3 ) by applying the conversion factor for Kodak CN-85 detectors in the box-type dosimeters as 0.0009 tracks cm -2 .h -1 equals 1 Bq.m -3 of radon (Iqbal et al, 2008;Akram et al, 2005;Tufail et al,1992). The information about types of houses, geology and construction aggregates was collected for possible correlation with the radon concentration in the dwellings of the Kotli area.…”