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Investigation of indoor 222Rn, 220Rn and their progeny in Punjab, northwestern India

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Abstract

Radon, thoron, and their progeny concentrations, seasonal variation in the indoor environment have been measured for dose assessment to the residents for first time using a single-entry pinhole dosimeters and deposition-based radon/thoron progeny sensors. A total of 100 dosimeters were deployed in 25 villages. These values are found to be higher in winter than rainy and summer season which may be due to inadequate ventilation conditions. The average annual effective inhalation dose has been found to be 0.90 mSvy−1, which is below the recommended level of International Commission on Radiological Protection.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the residents of the study area for their cooperation. We are highly thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments which greatly improved the structure of this manuscript.

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SR and SK designed the research plan and wrote the manuscript with contributions from AKS, SN and RM. Supriya Rani carried out all the radioactive surveys and analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sandeep Kansal.

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Rani, S., Kansal, S., Singla, A.K. et al. Investigation of indoor 222Rn, 220Rn and their progeny in Punjab, northwestern India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 1–13 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08674-7

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