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Radiation dose due to radon, thoron and their decay products in indoor environment of Khurja City, U.P., India

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Abstract

Inhalation of radon, thoron and their decay products can cause a significant health hazard when present in enhanced levels in the indoor environment like a human dwelling. In the present work a set of indoor radon and thoron measurements was carried out using time-integrated passive twin cup dosimeters containing LR-115 Type II solid state nuclear track detectors in different houses of Khurja City in Bulandshahar district of U.P. in India, built of the same type of building materials. The radon gas concentration was found to vary from 9.18 to 23.19 Bq m−3 with an average value of 16.02 Bq m−3 (SD = 3.68) and the thoron gas concentration varied from 2.78 to 9.03 Bq m−3 with an average value of 5.36 Bq m−3 (SD = 1.58). The radon progeny concentration ranged from 0.99 to 2.51 mWL with an average value of 1.77 mWL (SD = 0.40) and the concentration of thoron progeny was found to vary from 0.30 to 0.98 mWL with an average value of 0.58 mWL (SD = 0.17). The annual effective dose varied from 0.27 to 0.67 mSv year−1 with an average value of 0.47 mSv year−1(SD = 0.10).

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Acknowledgments

Authors express their gratitude to University Grant Commission., New Delhi, for providing financial support under a minor research project [F. NO. 8-2 (179)/2011 (MRP/NRCB)] for this research work. Authors are also thanks to the residents of Khurja City in Bulandshahar district of U.P. in India, who gladly helped during the deployment and collection of the dosimeters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, S.V. (P. G.) College, Aligarh, 202 001, India

    Mukesh Kumar

  2. Department of Chemistry, N.R.E.C. College, Khurja, 203 131, India

    Anshu Agrawal

  3. University School of Basic & Applied Sciences, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Sector-16 (c), Dwarka, New Delhi, 110 078, India

    Rajesh Kumar

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  1. Mukesh Kumar
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  2. Anshu Agrawal
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Correspondence to Mukesh Kumar.

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Kumar, M., Agrawal, A. & Kumar, R. Radiation dose due to radon, thoron and their decay products in indoor environment of Khurja City, U.P., India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 300, 39–44 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-2946-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-2946-z

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