Measurement of Indoor Radon, Thoron and Their Attached and Unattached Progeny Concentrations in Dwellings of Gurugram, India

Ruchie Gupta; Chandan; Gursimran Singh; Mohinder Pal; Deep Shikha

Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2021, 9(7), 633-639
DOI: 10.12691/aees-9-7-2

Open AccessArticle

Measurement of Indoor Radon, Thoron and Their Attached and Unattached Progeny Concentrations in Dwellings of Gurugram, India

Ruchie Gupta¹, Chandan^{2, 3}, Gursimran Singh², Mohinder Pal¹ and Deep Shikha^2,

¹Department of Physics, RIMT University, Mandi Gobindgarh-147 301, India

²Department of Physics, Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College, Sri Anandpur Sahib-140 118, India

³Department of Physics, Punjabi University, Patiala-147 002, India

Pub. Date: July 08, 2021

View Full Text Full Text PDF (469 KB) Full Text ePUB(1149 KB)

Cite this paper:
Ruchie Gupta, Chandan, Gursimran Singh, Mohinder Pal and Deep Shikha. Measurement of Indoor Radon, Thoron and Their Attached and Unattached Progeny Concentrations in Dwellings of Gurugram, India. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences. 2021; 9(7):633-639. doi: 10.12691/aees-9-7-2

Abstract

Estimation of indoor radon levels in the indoor air of a dwelling is an important aspect for the good health of human population spending a substantial portion of their lifetime indoor. Indoor radon combining with thoron and their progenies can accumulate in the houses to a value not suitable for the health of the people living there. The present paper is an attempt in this direction, to find the levels of the above-mentioned radioactive gases with their progenies in the dwellings of the Gurugram district of Haryana. The study was conducted in the summer season in 50 dwellings of the Gurugram district. International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) guidelines were followed to evaluate the results obtained in the study and the district was found to be in the less hazardous zone due to presence of natural radioactive gases in indoor environment of dwellings.

Keywords:
PRTM DTPS/DRPS indoor radon thoron inhalation dose

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	V. Mehta, R.P. Chauhan and G.S. Mudahar, Environmental Radon: Health Aspects and Present Status in Northern India, Indoor Built Environ., 24(1), 52-62, (2013).

[2]	V. Mehta, R.P. Chauhan and G.S. Mudahar, Monitoring of radon, thoron, their progeny concentration in dwellings and radon exhalation rates of soil/sand of Rupnagar district, Punjab, India, Environ. Earth Sci., 74, 4145, (2015).

[3]	D. Shikha, T. P. Singh, and M Pal, Concentration, Its Exhalation Rates in Some Soil Samples of Punjab, AIP Conference Proceedings, 2142, 120011, (2019).

[4]	R. Kaur, S. P. Singh, D. Shikha and V Mehta, Measurement of indoor Radon, thoron and dose Rates in some dwellings of Punjab, AIP Conference Proceedings, 2142, 120001(2019).

[5]	R Kaur, D. Shikha, R. Gupta, T. Singh, A. Kumar, S. P. Singh, V. Mehta, Lung dose measurement from indoor ²²²Rn and ²²⁰Rn in dwellings of Fatehgarh district of Punjab, India, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1706, 012031, (2020).

[6]	Chambers SD, Kang CH, Williams AG, Crawford J, Griffiths AD, Kim KH and Kim WH, Improving the representation of cross-boundary transport of anthropogenic pollution in East Asia using Radon-222. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 16: 958-978, (2016).

[7]	Ramola RC, Rautela BS, Gusain GS, Ganesh P, Sahoo SK and Tokonami S, Measurements of radon and thoron concentration in high radiation background area using pin-hole dosimeter. Radiat. Meas. 53-54:71-73, (2013).

[8]	Khokhar MSK, Kher RS, Rathore VB, Pandey S and Ramachandrane TV, Comparison of indoor radon and thoron concentrations in the urban and rural dwellings of Chhattisgarh state of India. Radiat Meas. 43: 405-409 (2008).

[9]	V. Mehta, A. Kumar, S. P. Singh, R. P. Chauhan and G. S. Mudahar, Measurement of indoor radon, thoron and their progeny levels in dwellings of Union Territory Chandigarh, India: correlation with radon exhalation rates, Indoor and Built Environ., 24(6), 833(2014).

[10]	V. Mehta, S. P. Singh, R. P. Chauhan and G. S. Mudahar, Measurement of indoor radon, thoron and their progeny levels in dwellings of Ambala district, Haryana, Northern India using solid state nuclear track detectors, Romanian Journal of Physics, 59(7-8), 834 (2014).

[11]	V. Mehta, S. P. Singh, R. P. Chauhan and G. S. Mudahar, Study of indoor radon, thoron, their progeny concentration and radon exhalation rate in the environs of Mohali, Punjab, Northern India, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 15, 1380 (2015).

[12]	V. Mehta, D. Shikha, S. P. Singh, R.P. Chauhan and G.S. Mudahar, Measurement of Radon, thoron and their progeny in indoor environment of Mohali, Punjab, northern India using pin hole dosimeters, Nuclear Technology and Radiation Protection, XXXI (3), 299(2016).

[13]	D. Shikha, V. Mehta, R.P. Chauhan and G.S. Mudahar, Measurement of variation of radon-thoron and their progeny concentrations in dwellings using pin hole based dosimeters, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 18, 811(2018).

[14]	R. Kaur, D. Shikha, S. P. Singh and V Mehta, Assessment of Indoor Radon and Thoron in Dwellings of Nangal Area using SSNTD, Journal of the Geological Society of India, 93(5), 603(2019).

[15]	UNSCEAR. (1993). United Nation Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation, United Nations: New York.

[16]	H. Baysson, S. Billon, D. Laurier, A. Rogal and M. Tirmarche, Radiat Prot Dosim. 104(3), 245 (2003).

[17]	K. Szacsvai, C. Cosma and A. Cucos, Rom. Journ. Phys. 58, S273 (2013).

[18]	P. Singh, K. Saini, R. Mishra, B. K. Sahoo, B. S. Bajwa, Attached, unattached fraction of progeny concentrations and equilibrium factor for dose assessments from 222Rn and 220Rn, Radiat Environ Biophys, 55: 401-410 (2016).

[19]	Nikezic D, Yu KN, Are radon gas measurements adequate for epidemiological studies and case control studies of radon induced lung cancer? Radiat Prot Dosim, 113: 233-235, (2005).

[20]	R Kaur, D. Shikha, S. P. Singh, V. Mehta, Environmental Radon, Its Exhalation Rates and Activity Concentration of ²²⁶Ra ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in Northern India, Nuclear Technology and Radiation Protection, Vol. 35(3), 268-282, 2020.

[21]	P K Naik et al., Report on Aquifer mapping and formulation of aquifer management plan for the National Capital Region, Haryana: Central Ground Water Board, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, Publication, 1-231 (2015).

[22]	Saini K, Sahoo BK and Bajwa BS, Estimation of indoor radon, thoron and their decay products’ concentrations along with annual inhalation dose in dwellings of Punjab, India. Indoor Built Environ., 27(3):380-389 (2018).

[23]	Sahoo BK, Sapra BK, Kanse SD, Gaware JJ and Mayya YS, A new pin hole discriminated ²²²Rn/ ²²⁰Rn passive measurement device with single entry face. Radiat. Meas. 58: 52-60 (2013).

[24]	Mayya YS, Mishra R, Prajith R, Sapra BK, Kushwaha HS, Wire-mesh capped deposition sensors: novel passive tool for coarse fraction flux estimation of radon thoron progeny in indoor environments. Sci Total Environ, 409(2): 378-383 (2010).

[25]	Mishra R, Mayya YS, Study of a deposition-based direct thoron progeny sensor (DTPS) technique for estimating equilibrium equivalent thoron concentration (EETC) in indoor environment. Radiat Meas, 43: 1408-1416 (2008).

[26]	Mishra R, Sapra BK, Mayya YS, Multi parametric approach towards the assessment of radon and thoron progeny exposures. Rev Sci Instrum, 85: 022105 (2014).

[27]	Knutson EO, Modeling indoor concentrations of radon’s decay products. In: Nazaroff WW, Nero AV Jr (eds) Radon and its decay products in indoor air. Wiley, New York, pp 161–199 (1988).

[28]	Porstendorfer J, Radon: measurement related to dose. Environ Int 22(1): 563-583 (1996).

[29]	ICRP (International Commission on Radiological Protection) (1993) Protection against radon-222 at home and at work. ICRP Publication-65. Pergamon Press, Oxford.

[30]	Nero AV Jr, Radon and its decay products in indoor air: an overview. In: Nazaroff WW, Nero AV Jr (eds) Radon and its decay products in indoor air. Wiley, New York, pp 1-53 (1988).

[31]	UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation). (2008). Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. United Nations, New York.

[32]	International Commission on Radiological Protection, (2011). Lung cancer risk from radon and progeny. ICRP Publication-115, ICRP: Ontario.

[33]	WHO (World Health Organization) (2009) WHO handbook on indoor radon: a public health perspective.

[34]	USEPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) (1991) National primary drinking water regulations; radionuclides; proposed rules. Federal register, 56:33050.

[35]	UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation). (2000). Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. Vol. 1, New York: United Nation.