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Measurement of indoor 222Rn, 220Rn and decay products along with naturally occurring radionuclides in some monuments and museums of Punjab, India

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Abstract

Radon (222Rn) and Thoron (220Rn) are radioactive noble gases which are produced in the decay chain of primordial radionuclides 238U and 232Th. These gases have been established as an important source of inhalation radiation dose to human which increases risk of lung cancer. Similarly the terrestrial 226Ra, 232Th, 40K are known to contribute to cumulative external background exposure to humans. In the present study, these radionuclides of concern were measured in the environment of monuments and museums in the state of Punjab and the resultant dose was calculated for the occupants. The calculated Annual Inhalation Dose level varied from 1.5 to 4.0 mSv with mean of 3.0 ± 0.8 mSv. The cumulative dose from all radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K is 47.0 ± 11.56 nGyh−1, found well within the safe limits of 86 nGyh−1.

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Acknowledgements

The authors, Dr. Deep Shikha and Dr. Vimal Mehta wants to thank BRNS-DAE funding (No. 56/14/01/2019-BRNS) and DST- FIST Scheme (No. SR/FST/College-2019-759 (C) for supporting this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Punjabi University, Patiala, 147002, India

    Rupinderjeet Kaur & Supreet Pal Singh

  2. Department of Physics, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College, Anandpur Sahib, 140118, India

    Deep Shikha & Vimal Mehta

  3. Department of Physical Sciences, I.K.G. Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar, 144603, India

    Anjali Kaushal

  4. Department of Physics, RIMT University, Mandi Gobindgarh, 141411, India

    Ruchie Gupta

  5. Department of Physics, NIT, Kurukshetra, Kurukshetra, 147002, India

    R. P. Chauhan

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  1. Rupinderjeet Kaur
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  2. Deep Shikha
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  3. Anjali Kaushal
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  4. Ruchie Gupta
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  5. Supreet Pal Singh
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  6. R. P. Chauhan
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  7. Vimal Mehta
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Correspondence to Rupinderjeet Kaur or Vimal Mehta.

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Kaur, R., Shikha, D., Kaushal, A. et al. Measurement of indoor 222Rn, 220Rn and decay products along with naturally occurring radionuclides in some monuments and museums of Punjab, India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 330, 1357–1364 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07996-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07996-2

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