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Monitoring of radon, thoron, their progeny concentrations in dwellings, and radon exhalation rates of soil/sand of Rupnagar district, Punjab, India

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Abstract

Radon and its progeny are major contributors in the radiation dose received by general population of the world. Keeping this in mind, the environmental monitoring of radon–thoron and their progeny in dwellings of district Rupnagar, Punjab, India has been carried out. Both radon–thoron twin dosimeter cups and the newly developed pin-hole dosimeters cups by BARC, India were used for the study. The study reveals good agreement between the values measured by the two types of dosimeters. Radon exhalation rate from soil samples of these dwellings/areas have been carried out using “Canister Technique.” The radon exhalation rates of some soil samples of these dwellings/areas were also measured by an active technique using a continuous radon monitor. Both the active and passive techniques show the exhalation rate values to be lower than the worldwide average. The study of the exhalation rate of the soil samples of Nangal and Anandpur Sahib of the district Rupnagar and the sand samples available from the study area has also been carried out for the possible use as construction material. The in situ gamma dose varied from 0.13 to 0.33 µSv/h.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, M. M. University, Mullana, Ambala, 133 207, India

    Vimal Mehta

  2. Department of Physics, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147 001, India

    Vimal Mehta & G. S. Mudahar

  3. Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, 136 119, India

    R. P. Chauhan

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  1. Vimal Mehta
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  2. R. P. Chauhan
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  3. G. S. Mudahar
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Correspondence to Vimal Mehta.

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Mehta, V., Chauhan, R.P. & Mudahar, G.S. Monitoring of radon, thoron, their progeny concentrations in dwellings, and radon exhalation rates of soil/sand of Rupnagar district, Punjab, India. Environ Earth Sci 74, 4145–4155 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4492-6

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