Study of radon/thoron exhalation rate, soil-gas radon concentration, and assessment of indoor radon/thoron concentration in Siwalik Himalayas of Jammu & Kashmir. Issue 8 (17th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kaur, Manpreet; Kumar, Ajay; Mehra, Rohit; Mishra, Rosaline
• Is Part Of: Human & ecological risk assessment. Volume 24:Issue 8(2018)
• Page Start: 2275
• Page End: 2287
• Publication Date: 2018-11-17
• Subjects: exhalation rate -- soil-gas radon concentration -- indoor radon concentration -- annual effective dose; Health risk assessment -- Periodicals; Ecological risk assessment -- Periodicals; Ecology -- Periodicals; Risk Assessment -- Periodicals; 363.102
• DOI: 10.1080/10807039.2018.1443793
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1080-7039

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In the present study, the soil-gas radon concentration was assessed at different depth intervals, i.e., 15 cm, 30 cm, 60 cm, and 100 cm from the 30 villages of Jammu & Kashmir, India using RAD7, an electrostatic solid state alpha detector. The radon mass exhalation and thoron surface exhalation rate has also been measured in the selected 18 soil samples out of 30 of different grain sizes ( i.e., 1 mm, 300 µ m, 150 µ m). The active radon and thoron concentrations were also assessed in the 20 villages. Both the exhalation rates and active radon/thoron concentration were measured using SMART Rn Duo, a portable radon monitor. The average values of soil-gas radon concentration were 210 ± 84 Bq m −3, 1261 ± 963 Bq m −3, 4210 ± 1994 Bq m −3, and 671 ± 305 Bq m −3 at the depth intervals of 15 cm, 30 cm, 60 cm, and 100 cm, respectively. The exhalation rate of radon and thoron from soil was found to decrease with the increase of grain size, as smaller soil particles make relatively more contribution to radon and thoron exhalations from the ground surface than larger soil particles. The measured Pearson's correlation coefficient was obtained as statistically significant between different quantities under two-tailed test.