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Exposure to radon in buildings in the municipality of Lubango, Angola, during winter months

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Abstract

The evaluation of indoor radon exposure in dwellings is done for the first time in Lubango. The corresponding annual effective dose to which the population is exposed during the wintertime was calculated. A total of 59 single-family houses and 16 public buildings were selected. The results obtained show that in 100% of the houses, the radon concentrations are below 300 Bq m−3. The values of the indoor annual effective dose vary from (2.0 ± 0.1) to (7.0 ± 0.2) mSv y−1 below the recommended maximum reference level of 10 mSv y−1.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of this work by the government of the Republic of Angola through PhD grants n◦ 38/2016 and n◦ 441/2016 for J. Kessongo and Y. Bahu, respectively. We are grateful to Ashley Rose Peralta for the review of the English text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade da Beira Interior, Rua Marquês d’Ávila e Bolama, 6201-001, Covilhã, Portugal

    Y. Bahu, J. Kessongo & S. Soares

  2. Centro de Matemática e Aplicações, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    S. Soares

  3. Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas, Av. Gama Pinto, 2, Complexo Disciplinar (3is), 1649-003, Lisboa, Portugal

    Y. Bahu, J. Kessongo, Luis Peralta & S. Soares

  4. Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande 016, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal

    Luis Peralta

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  1. Y. Bahu
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  2. J. Kessongo
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  3. Luis Peralta
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  4. S. Soares
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Soares.

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We state that all measurements were done with the appropriate information and permissions of local authorities, in the case of public buildings and house owners in the case of single-family houses. We further declare that we have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Bahu, Y., Kessongo, J., Peralta, L. et al. Exposure to radon in buildings in the municipality of Lubango, Angola, during winter months. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 327, 635–642 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07570-2

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