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Assessment the Health Hazard from 222Rn in Old Metalliferous Mines in San Luis, Argentina

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Abstract

Radon levels in two old mines in San Luis, Argentina, are reported and analyzed. The radiation dose and environmental health risk of 222Rn concentrations to both guides and visitors were estimated. CR-39 nuclear track detectors were used for this purpose. The values for the 222Rn concentration at each monitoring site ranged from 0.43 ± 0.04 to 1.48 ± 0.12 kBq m−3 in the Los Cóndores wolfram mine and from 1.8 ± 0.1 to 6.0 ± 0.5 kBq·m−3 in the La Carolina gold mine, indicating that, in this mine, the radon levels exceed up to four times the action level of 1.5 kBq m−3 recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The patterns of the radon transport process revealed that the La Carolina gold mine can be interpreted as a gas confined into a single tube with constant cross-section and air velocity. Patterns of radon activity, taking into account the chimney-effect winds, were used to detect tributary currents of air from shafts or larger fissures along the main adit of the Los Cóndores mine, showing that radon can be used as an important tracer of tributary air currents stream out from fissures and smaller voids in the rock of the mine.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Brazilian (CNPq, PROSUL/CNPq, and FAPERJ) and Argentine (CONICET and UNSL) funding agencies for their financial support. We are grateful to workers of the La Carolina and Los Cóndores mines who assisted us with the radon measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, P.O.Box 66318, 05314-970, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    A. A. R. da Silva & E. M. Yoshimura

  2. GEA, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis (IMASL), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Ej. de los Andes 950, D5700HHW, San Luis, Argentina

    D. L. Valladares, H. Velasco & M. Rizzotto

  3. Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal Milton Tavares de Souza, s/n°, Gragoatá, 24210-340, Niterói, RJ, Brazil

    R. M. Anjos

  4. Serviço Especializado em Engenharia de Segurança e Medicina do Trabalho, Departamento de Saúde, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua da Reitoria, 109, 05508-900, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    A. A. R. da Silva

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  1. A. A. R. da Silva
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  2. D. L. Valladares
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  3. R. M. Anjos
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  4. H. Velasco
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  6. E. M. Yoshimura
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Correspondence to R. M. Anjos.

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da Silva, A.A.R., Valladares, D.L., Anjos, R.M. et al. Assessment the Health Hazard from 222Rn in Old Metalliferous Mines in San Luis, Argentina. Water Air Soil Pollut 218, 371–386 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0652-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0652-1

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